Peering Into the Dark Abyss
by Twisted Fate MK 2
Summary: Jaune Arc, cursed and blessed in equal measure, must return to a past which will fill him with pain. Loss and suffering were what he met on his first venture. So then, what shall he find this time? (Now with help from Mika-chan for co-writing and Beta purposes.)
1. Author's Note

So, the rewritten Prologue is up now. I hope you all enjoy the rewrite and respec of the story. PLEASE leave any notes, ideas, suggestions or what have you in a Review, no matter how minor they may be or small you may think them, or PM me if you have already Reviewed.


	2. Prologue

**(So, I do apologize, but I have gone back and deleted every chapter save one to do a full rewrite, changing a good many things about the formatting and style, the story flow, and how I actually write it.**

**The original set was always intended as a sort of testing ground, to think up and create the ideas I had and see what people thought. This has happened, thank you Riero for your input, by the way. Now, I can do a true blue version of the story.**

**I apologize for this if it bothers you, and hope you all will bear with me.**

**~ Twisted)**

_Prologue_

In the chaos of civil war and the tensions and strife which had preceded it, brought on by the merciless attacks by the White Fang terrorists, the Grimm had flourished, unrestrained by the regular hunts that would have kept their numbers down, and the Hunters and Huntresses who didn't join the fray of this bloody conflict as it began to bloom had been far too outnumbered to even begin to even put a dent the dark masses of the Grimm, much less keep them under control. The mess, which had been started during the Breach, had now grown into an irreversible spiral towards destruction.

As a result, the faith and trust that people once placed in the Huntsmen as a whole fell dramatically to the point that, just when RWBY and JNPR became fully fledged and licensed Huntsmen themselves five years ago, their badges meant nothing to anyone of any importance at all. Still, they'd been happy to graduate, and like many other newly graduated teams, had stayed at Beacon, going out to do what Hunters did best: killing monsters.

The year after they graduated, the civil war began in full swing. The White Fang, led by a Faunus named Adam Taurus and a human woman named Cinder Fall, attacked and temporarily captured the capitol building with brutal bombings and surgical strikes during an international meeting regarding, mildly ironically, the White Fang's activities. By the end of the day, the entirety of Vale, Atlas, Vacuo and Mistral's diplomatic officials, including the entire Valean Council and the Mistralian king, were dead. Ozpin, who had been partnered with General Ironwood as security heads, had also been killed in the attack, so neither could stop what came next.

It was as ironic as it was brutal, human and Faunus joining hands to wreak havoc. They had succeeded in putting aside their differences towards a bloody, common goal, though none knew what the woman had wanted.

The immediate effect of the attack was brutal, and nowhere in any Kingdom was completely exempt from it. People rose up in anger, targeting Faunus anywhere they could. Shops were burned, houses looted, and Faunus murdered in the ensuing riots. This, of course, only swelled the ranks of the White fang. Something redoubled by the new Council's next orders.

In such a situation as the utter chaos and deaths of the Council and the riots that followed, emergency elections were always held to replace the lost council members. But due to the Humans rage against the White Fang, which transmitted to all Faunus due to the Fang's hidden identities, the elected Council members were staunch anti-Faunus activists, capitalizing on the hatred and tension.

The first thing the new Council did was immediately start an investigation into any and all Faunus for fear of being members of the Fang. At first, no one, even Faunus themselves, cared. They were too busy dealing with immediate concerns such as their burned shops and homes to do so, and many were already leaving and going to Vacuo, where they'd be safest as they were much more forgiving of the Faunus after the incidents that ha doccurred.

Arrests, torture, interrogation, and outright slaughter of Faunus quickly followed the investigations. Anyone with any ties to the Fang were considered traitors, from being ex-members all the way down to merely being related to one, or having been friends in the past with one. Merely being visibly Faunus was dangerous, as people were prone to harass you and officials would make it their business to make their lives difficult.

Ozpin had known about Blake's past, as did JNPR and RWBY, and all three parties had kept it under wraps. Glynda had done as best she could, but the files were available to the Headmaster and Headmistress. The bigoted Council, of course, appointed a new Headmaster, and he was appointed solely to weed out the Faunus and discourage them attending Vale's most prestigious academy.

Cardin Winchester had, in his time at Beacon Academy, grown exponentially into a fine young man, and no longer held ill will toward the Faunus like he had at his younger years. As a Matter of fact, he was among the leader of a group known as the 'White Knights' who were known for helping Faunus get out of Vale and Atlas, the two Kingdoms most notable for their new Anti-Faunus activities and laws. His father, Walter Winchester, however was a different case.

He was a staunch anti-Faunus activist, so it was no wonder where he got his earlier views from, a sentiment held from the last Human-Faunus war in his family. He disliked intensely the mere fact they could even ATTEND Beacon in the first place. As a result, whenever Internal Security Officers (ISO) showed up and requested a report about a Faunus student or Hunter, he made absolutely certain to send as much trouble that person's way as possible. Consequently, once they showed up and asked about one Blake Belladonna, and he reviewed Ozpin's files on her, he made quite a name for himself among the political circles with what he revealed.

The next morning, she was taken into custody quietly while shopping in Vale City. Her friends didn't know anything until a half week later, when the Valean Council announced they had captured a 'person of interest' in the previous Council's assassinations, who had confessed to it. The camera had then shown a beaten and bruised picture of Blake, slumped over a table, muttering a confession to the crime of treason.

Her friends did everything they could think to help her, knowing that she had obviously been forced to confess through torture, but even the White Knights could do nothing to help her. The next day, she was executed for treason beside six other 'terrorists' and her body burned as a traitor. As a 'traitor', she was not listed as KIA in the official roster, instead being posthumously stripped of her Huntress status.

They had grieved for a few weeks, and Yang had been nigh inconsolable for a month, but they settled on doing as Blake would have no doubt wished them to do and continued fighting the Grimm as they had always done.

JNPR was deployed as a team a year later to a small village on the northern coast to clear out a town of Grimm. The mission had gone far too well, up until they stumbled onto a hidden Fang base in a nearby cave system. The ensuing combat left about a brigade of Fang soldiers dead…. along with Ren, who had gone missing during the battle. Jaune didn't know how or when he'd been hit exactly, only that in the aftermath they found him on the ground, having bled to death from multiple wounds. He was listed as KIA immediately, lost due to catastrophic injuries in the field.

Nora had gone berserk then, immediately charging off into the forest in a fit of rage, Magnhild gripped tight in her hands. They spent several days looking for her, following the carnage left behind by the Grimm and, here and there, scattered platoons of White Fang soldiers, usually smeared across the ground or blown in half on both the Grimm and the Fang's sides. They never actually found her. They only ever found the Upper half of Magnhild's handle, the head having been overused beyond repair. She was listed as MIA, but is assumed to be KIA.

A month later, Pyrrha returned home to try and help her family see reason, as they were pressing for more actions against the Faunus living there. Jaune was hopeful for her, even as their friendship stood at the time. Unfortunately, by the end of that year, she and her family were killed by Faunus dissidents, possibly White Fang. By now, Yang had become far more quite, and after Pyrrha died Jaune joined her, becoming more quiet and withdrawn. She was listed as KIA, officially, and was awarded a posthumous Valean Leaf and Mistralian Shield. More meaningless political maneuvering.

In the remaining year, the remaining four grew ever closer. Jaune began dating Yang, a much milder thing than many would think after everything which had happened, and Weiss began to get closer to Ruby- in a very similar way that Yang had been getting closer to Jaune- even as she began to take control of the SDC in Vale, in hopes of helping the Faunus working there.

They had been at a conference to announce her taking over of Vale's branch of the SDC when the Fang launched another attack, turning the entire conference building into a fireball. Weiss was at the center of that blast, and Yang was in the audience, and only survived thanks to her superior tolerance of heat due to her semblance's fiery side-effects. Another KIA for the eight young Huntsmen.

Instead, she died half a year later in a Grimm attack, having bled to death by hundreds minor wounds and a lost arm. She didn't go down until after every Grimm had, and in spite of Jaune's efforts to stop the bleeding she had succumbed to her wounds. He never quite let go of that, in all honesty, and neither had Ruby.

**(Beacon Academy Ruins, Ten Years after the Initiation)**

Jaune groaned internally, watching the massive pack of armoured Beowolves skulking through the area that would almost certainly cause problems for him, and limped back the way he had come to where his 'partner' was waiting, though he hesitated to describe Ruby as just a partner at this point, careful to keep weight of his mildly sprained ankle as his Aura surged to heal it.

It had been ten years since their Initiation into Beacon Academy, and so much had happened to them over those years. So much loss, and now when Beacon had been ruined, they were sent to recover any Dust and equipment possibly a couple weeks after the fact.

A couple weeks before then, the Grimm had attacked Vale City and Beacon, and as a result, Beacon had been evacuated and everything diverted to defend the city. Casualties on Beacon's side had been massive among the under-class men, but the Council had said it was their job in any event. Then they had sent him and Ruby, as well as several other pairs, into the ruins in separate areas in order to find anything worthy of a recovery effort was left.

They were currently in the area the library and dorms had been in, and the closest team was across campus at the area the arena was used to be located at, presumably in hopes of recovering weapons that had been left behind in the chaos as well as medical supplies and the like.

The library had collapsed completely in the fighting with the Grimm, as had almost all the dorms. Some of the first floor dormitories were still in one piece, and they were bedding down in one of those rooms right now. The hallway and door had collapsed and filled with rubble, but the room itself was still solid and safe enough, thanks to the rubble outside the window which meant the entrance was narrower than most Grimm could fit through.

Didn't stop Ruby having her weapon in rifle-form levelled at his chest when he clambered into the room, though. They'd piled up everything in the room against the door, aside from two mattresses and a single lamp hooked up to a small, portable Dust generator so they could see. The light couldn't escape outside due to the tattered black drapes still on the window, and it was a nice thing to have while they looked around.

"Got a big ass pack of pups out by the landing pads, Rubes." He dropped onto the bed, letting Crocea Mors fall to the floor and adjusting his holstered handgun- just the standard for police, but it fared rather well for low-tier Grimm with dust mods- as Ruby grunted in acknowledgement, going back to doodling in her notebook quietly. "Whatcha drawing?"

"Yang." She replied somberly, and Jaune sighed to himself, stretching on the bed and doing his best to ignore the discomfort his armour caused. "Going to bed for the night?"

"Yeah, going to rest for a few hours before we get picked up in the morning." Jaune grunted, turning his head away from the light.

The next day, they woke up and gathered their gear before heading for the pickup out on the old landing pads. Unfortunately, when they got there, there was a veritable horde of Grimm, mostly Beowolves. The Bullhead could not make a landing in that condition, however, and that meant they'd need to fight their way through and clear it to get home.

So they did, because they had to. Neither of them were particularly worried about dying anymore.

Ruby opened the fight, firing her rifle and blowing an Alpha's head off while Jaune moved ahead quickly, sword and shield prepped for combat. He rolled under the first wolf's claws, Ruby blowing a hole in its chest for him, and swung his sword up as he rose to cut across another's throat as he stepped past it, letting it fall behind him as he fought.

They'd fought like this many times, Jaune fighting in the midst of the Grimm while Ruby supported him from afar with her large caliber rifle, eliminating the more dangerous Grimm before engaging to help them both survive.

A few minutes into the combat, he heard the sound of a chain gun ripping into the crowd of Grimm he was fighting. It wasn't in support of him, rather it was merely fighting the Grimm themselves. Coco had no way of seeing him or knowing he was in there as the Grimm were simply charging at Ruby, most not really staying to fight him.

So when the rounds started to tear through the Grimm and he was unable to dodge, he felt no ire towards her. Not even when he lost his left leg and several rounds punched through him, one in his stomach and two in his chest, small black pock marks in his armoured chest.

Ruby was at his side instantly, rifle cracking to kill a wounded Grimm that had been descending on him before she jumped away with her friend hanging over her shoulder, clutching her cloak to keep himself on her shoulder.

She landed a few yards from the last of the corpses as the other team, consisting of Coco and Velvet, came running up. The former was already shouting her apologies, tears on her face, and collapsed to her knees next to him while Velvet tried desperately to stabilize him.

It was a vain effort, because he was already dead far before they had even reached him. Because one of those small black pock marks was right over his heart, and the round had shredded it entirely.

In spite of his death, and in spite of being unaware of anything around him, he still heard a single voice, utter a single sentence, which would change the course of his very existence irrevocably forevermore.

_"__Not just yet, boy…"_

His eyes felt like they were on fire, and he began to lose consciousness. However, before hearing familiar voice that sent shivers down his spine, nearby shouting his ears off.

"Oh shit, Vomit Boy, you okay?"

Then, he blacked out.


	3. Awakening to Blood

**(I am happy people seem to be enjoying the new chapters! ~ Twisted)**

**(Jaune Arc)**

"Shit, there's a lot out there. You can keep the glyph up, right Weiss Cream?" Jaune tensed, hearing the nick-name and the voice speaking it, accompanied by the snarling of beasts. Beowolves he recognized with little effort, mind trained to the slightly higher pitch to their growling. He wasn't paying that much attention, however, or the assurances Yang was receiving from Weiss. Instead, he was latched onto the sight his eyes beheld upon opening, and felt his heart beating out of his chest at it.

All of his friends alive and breathing, if battered looking, in some cave in what seemed to be Forever Fall forest. Weiss was holding up a black, slowly spinning glyph to keep the hounds at bay, and looked to be tiring rapidly as they slammed against it over and over, shuddering with each consecutive hit. They all looked different than he remembered, and it took a minute for him to figure out why.

They were younger than when they died. Much, much younger, in fact. He had no clue what was going on, but one thing was certain in his mind as Weiss staggered back from another hint and the glyph cracked, the others stepping back anxiously as the horde outside grew more excited.

He voiced it quietly, grip on his sword tight enough to make his knuckles crack," Not again, damn it…"

He winced when he surged his Aura to form the protective 'armor' Hunters used to protect themselves from harm, taking a step back as if struck and covering his eyes for a second. When he removed them, he smiled ferally at his new discovery.

Everything, everywhere he looked flowed slower, and any detail he focused on was acutely clear to him, as though he was looking through a powerful microscope of some sort. Glaring at the large cave's entrance, he allowed his Aura to ebb slightly, experimenting with it, and things seemed to progressively speed back up to normal, the stinging in his eyes leaving as it did so.

As soon as time's flow seemed to return to normal, he shot forward with Crocea Mors in his fist, casually shooting past the two soon-to-be-teams and blocking the falling form of Weiss from being mauled by a small Beowolf, casually lopping its head off before running up the corpse and cleaving another's arm off just as easily, before the blade sang across its throat and ended it.

The others shot forward to help him, but he paid them no mind, lost in his battle-lust and the blood of the Grimm.

Landing on the ground, he caught a large Ursa's paw across his shield, angling it so the claw skated past him and stabbing up, into the beast's throat. It gurgled, toppling over the space he had previously occupied, while he moved on to the next pair of Beowolves, one of which fell when he beheaded it and the second when he planted the point of his kite-shield into its eye and tore off the top of its skull.

This continued for about ten minutes, and by the end of it the two teams-to-be were both shocked beyond meaning or precedent, staring at Jaune. The young man was kneeling in the blood soaked earth, breathing heavily and staring up at the sky like a man enraptured by something they could not see, soaked in blood and looking very much like a man possessed.

Jaune was not, however, insane. He was merely thinking quickly, about everything he knew, every possibility within reason, and trying to decide a best course to take. Because he was either mad, or back at initiation. In either event, he was stuck in this reality and would need to play along with it to get anywhere. So, he ran through everything he could think of and remember, from technology to history to financial information and business.

There was also the three women he had romantic feelings for- who, he noted, were currently staring at him like he was insane- to deal with being around, and that was a particular mess he wasn't quite looking forward to. Then there was this new found power of his, which seemed to either slow time, or enhance his perception of it. The latter was the more likely, as it at least made sense based on relative time theories dealing with perceiving time.

So, he was possibly mad, and could see time flow slower if he so wished, and had to live with three women all of which he'd slept with. Joy, oh joy. Still, that didn't mean he couldn't use his knowledge to make some money and a name for himself. Mad or not, he was stuck here. May as well enjoy himself.

Turning his head to regard the three women in question he chuckled darkly, something which thoroughly creeped out everyone present, and waved at them with his off hand. "Sup, you guys?"

They merely waved, aside from Ruby who was busily poking a dead Beowolf with a stick, and he smiled and stood up, looking up at the descending Bullhead. No doubt, Ozpin had seen his display, so he decided to enjoy himself and turned, looking at a nearby camera and waving.

Then he passed out, exhausted from the fight.

**(Ozpin Cane, Ozpin's Office)**

Ozpin blinked, silently rewinding and watching the combat footage from outside the cave. Then he replayed the combat against the Death Stalker from earlier which, while still admirable in skill and teamwork, was nothing of compare the ferocity and precision of his later performance.

Brutal and brutish as it may have appeared, his eyes did not miss the small sword flashing through arteries, or how it hooked into ligaments and joints to dismember them. The attacks were precise as they were brutal, cleaving through the Grimm like a butcher would a carcass.

Practiced hands made for practiced work as they said, and those strikes meant he had either been highly trained at a prestigious combat school- unlikely, as he had falsified papers to get him in and such skill would render that useless- or he had spent large quantities of time fighting the Grimm. Where he could have done this was a mystery to him and he did so love a good mystery.

So he brought up a complete history of the boy, Jaune Arc, and was… Less than thrilled, sad to say. Never attended any combat schools, nor spent any time outside the walls, and barely scraped by on the entrance physical. His credentials were faked, rather well admittedly. But that didn't explain how he had demolished eighty-five percent of a pack of Grimm so large he'd called in an emergency attack run with the Bullhead with next to no trouble.

Then he turned, looking at the camera and waving, and Ozpin smashed the pause button and zoomed in. Scratching his chin, he brought up Arc's photo I.D. and compared them. The I.D. was clearly different from the picture he was looking at. The boy in the picture he'd taken was happy, smiling and carefree, with an obviously happy existence. And his eyes weren't red in his I.D. picture either. On the film, he looked intense and dangerous, calculating, like he was thinking intensely about a million things all at once.

Then, cascading down his being, he seemed to suddenly change right back to the happy young man, instead of the blood covered Grimm killer he'd been a moment ago. Then he passed out.

How odd. He'd need to keep an eye on the young man. Clearly, there was something off here.


	4. Making Friends

**(Beacon Medical Wards)**

It had been a couple days since the incident in the forest, during which time Jaune had been unconscious most of the time, and barely lucid whenever he wasn't sleeping. Doctors had run a full screen of tests immediately when he arrived, and concluded that he was suffering intense and wide spread Aura over use, muscle damage and torn tendons. The diagnosis was that he'd unlocked his Semblance and overused it by accident, and the stress had been too much on his body or mind, depending on the Semblance in question.

So it had been announced during the team naming ceremony that he was incapacitated, along with the founding of JNPR with him as leader, and he'd been excused from classes for the following week to recover. On the third day, his partner, Pyrrha, was glad to see him finally wake up.

"Jaune!" He winced at her loud shout, reaching up to rub his temples to placate the headache ripping into his head," You're finally awake! It's been three days. Are you feeling better?"

"Not really, no. What fucking hit me?" Jaune grunted, forcing himself to sit up despite protesting muscles and tendons, looking around himself at the small medical room.

"Well…. Several Beowolves and Ursa…. And a major case of Aura loss. But you should be fine in a couple days. Just need to rest up a bit." Pyrrha hopped up, pulling her Scroll out," I need to call Ozpin and the doctors and the rest of our team."

"Please…" Jaune spoke before he could stop himself, hand reaching for her in his drugged state. "Could you… Not right now?"

"I… Guess not. I do need to send Ozpin a message though, he'll give you time to rest if you need it." She seemed to hesitate when his arm dropped back to his side and he swallowed dryly, looking up at the roof," Should I go?"

"No!" He blinked at his exclamation before reigning in his emotions, trying to retain control in spite of the pain killers that he knew to be flooding his body right now. "Sorry, I, uh, I just get scared in hospitals."

A partial truth. His exclamation had naught to do with his anxiety about being in hospitals, though that was a problem he had. He'd long suffered great anxiety in hospitals, since several White Fang soldiers attacked him at one. But his issue now was that he hadn't seen Pyrrha in years, and couldn't let her leave so quickly.

"You're afraid?" She asked quietly, eyes filled with concern immediately, and returning to her seat beside him. She smiled comfortingly and took his hand in hers, the friendly gesture warming his heart instantly. "I could call our team here, to meet you? In a bit, I mean."

"I suppose that would be alright, once I have a minute to… Adjust." She nodded, smiling brightly once again and nodding at him. "So, what'd I miss?"

"Well, it's been a few days… Let's see, I guess you haven't missed much class yet, I'll share my notes with you. Oh, you were made the team's leader!" She squeezed his hand, smiling widely again," Congratulations!"

"I'm the team's leader, huh? Joy." He muttered, sighing," That's gonna be fun. How's our team?"

"Well… Honestly, I don't know a lot about them yet. Ren is kind of quiet and withdrawn, and Nora is the complete opposite. How he has handled her so long, I'll never understand." She shook her head, and sighed," She drives me crazy sometimes."

"They sound perfect." He said wistfully, smiling in spite of himself and looking up at her," They sound absolutely perfect."

"I… Suppose so. In their own way." She gave him a strange look, obviously surprised by his statement and he shrugged noncommittally.

"Sorry. Meds are kinda funning with my head, you know?" He chuckled dryly and she nodded, the conversation descending into a pregnant pause. "So, um, you know a lot about weapons?"

"Only Akuou and Milos, I'm afraid. I'm sure Nora would know about the more explosive kinds though. Why do you ask?" She scrunched her face in thought as she spoke, and Jaune shrugged once more.

"Well, I'm kind of a techy. I have a ton of old weapon ideas of mine bouncing around I always wanted to work on, just… Never had the time or the money. But here at Beacon…"

"You have facilities to do exactly that." She nodded in understanding, removing her hand from his and pulling out her Scroll," You can make anything you can think of, really, as long as you don't waste. What do you want to do?"

"Well, uh, I want to get into making arms, armor and that sorta thing. There's a lot of money to be had in that business, after all." He smiled, and Pyrrha's face immediately dropped and she stared reproachfully at him," What's the matter?"

"I…. Nothing. Don't worry about it," she smiled, standing up and heading for the door and Jaune felt suddenly anxious. "I'll send the others to see you later, alright? Good night."

And she was gone. Jaune cursed internally, knowing that somewhere, he'd fucked up. He knew Pyrrha well enough to know when she was upset about something, but he frankly didn't know what he'd said or done to upset her. Sighing in frustration, he laid back on the bed and resigned himself to waiting for his other friends to show up.

Which didn't take long, Nora throwing open his door and shooting to his side, immediately hugging him and practically vibrating." Oh my gods, Jauney! You've been sleeping for, like, ever! I never thought you'd wake up, but Ren kept telling me you would. And you did! And now-"

"Nora, stop. You're going to break him." Ren walked in the door, and Nora hopped off him, bouncing away and saluting giddily," And quiet down, it's getting late. We don't want to bother anyone."

"Sorry Ren~"

"So you two are my other team members?" Jaune asked quietly, forced to play dumb for now by circumstance, and slightly sickened by the necessary deceptions he would soon be employing. "My name is Jaune Arc. It's nice to meet you, formally. Without things wanting to eat us."

"Indeed. Though, with how things were at the time, I doubt we'd be having an introduction at all without your surprisingly… Fierce intervention." Ren gave him an impressed, appreciative nod and Jaune smiled warmly as he could at him.

"Yeah, I don't know what came over me," he shrugged, grimacing slightly and cracking his neck," And I think you guys could have handled it well enough. Might have been scuffed up a bit more, but still."

"You… Sure are confident in the people you've never met." Ren muttered and Jaune did his best to hide the surprise at the statement, and he shrugged. Before Ren could say any more, a doctor stepped into the door and warned them that the visiting hours were drawing to a close.

"Could you bring me a pen and paper, doc?" The old woman paused in the door, looking back in just long enough to nod, and walked away. So Jaune turned back to his two new friends and smiled, telling them goodnight. Nora insisted on a hug, practically vibrating as always at meeting her team's leader finally, and Ren half-dragged her away.

The doctor came back about ten minutes later with a pen and a note-pad of paper, then checked his machines and left quietly. Picking up the pad and paper, he started to write a letter to his family explaining where he was and why he left. He'd… Not done that last time, and they'd been very hurt by his secrecy and disappearance. He'd never reconciled with them before the war broke out, and they'd all been killed by the Grimm.

Real or not, he wasn't going to leave them in the dark like that this time. He'd learned that particular lesson well enough, so he wrote the letter quietly. After all, a second chance should be a better run than the last. On another page, he started jotting down thoughts for what he could do to fix everything, to try and save everyone.

To do it, he'd need money, resources and, most importantly, power. He'd need a massive amount of power and wealth to fight the hate of the world, and stop the war. Stop the war, and the issues with the Grimm would resolve themselves. No Hunters fighting in the war and dying meant more fighting the Grimm themselves, which would keep the numbers under control and prevent a Grimm War from occurring.

But even should the Grimm still become problematic, having money and power would help him stop them as well. The same could be said of the White Fang, though he intended to use his influence to help the Faunus directly, which should resolve the White Fang on its own.

Using the schematics he had memorized from the future, another ability he seemed to have though he knew not how he had gained it, he could gain the wealth and influence. And money was power in and of itself. He would use it to gain influence with the Faunus and, by extension, the White Fang itself to further empower himself. Being an Arc would also be useful to his plans, allowing him to draw on his family's past glories to further his present.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his room's door, and he looked up in surprise to see Ozpin before he quickly shuffled his papers into a neat pile and set them face down on the table beside him.

"Good evening, Headmaster. I… Didn't expect you to come see me personally." Jaune was genuinely surprised, yet at the same time not feel too terribly shocked that he'd come to see him like this.

"I merely wanted to check up on you, and discuss a couple things." He gestured at the open seat with his right hand, left holding the cane in front of him comfortably. Jaune, of course, nodded and the older man stepped in, closing and locking the door and taking a seat. "Now, first off, I wanted to give you some information regarding your Semblance. The doctors ran some tests and I evaluated the film of your combat with a few professors."

"And? How much could some film and a few doctors tell you?" Playing dumb again? Oh yes, definitely going to get tiring for the young man.

"Well, part of training Hunters IS finding out their semblance and helping them hone it into an ability capable of fighting high class Grimm." He smiled, gesturing at his face," Yours, for example, is ocular based and seems to enhance your perceptive capabilities. That or you are a Hunter of an ability rivaling and surpassing every member of my staff, based on your evasion skills."

"So, what can it do? Or is that it?" This time, his lack of knowledge was genuine and he was just as genuinely happy for the lack of deception he had to use in this part of the conversation, a thin smile cracking his features.

"Well, we don't know yet if the abilities expand beyond just a heightened perception. Further tests will show that, one way or another. For now, just keep practicing with it so you don't drain every ounce of Aura you have using it." He smiled caringly, and Jaune was just starting to relax when the smile disappeared and he gave off a far more threatening aura." Now, care to explain why someone with clear skills in combat has fake transcripts to get into my Academy?"

"I, well, um…" He sighed, looking down at his lap and avoiding the Headmaster's gaze," Before I got my Semblance, I wasn't good. The skills came from it, not me. I'd have never gotten in without my semblance, so I faked my transcripts…"

"I see. Well, I suppose since you passed Initiation with such flying colors, I can let your standing stay as is. But I will be watching you," He smiled again, all previous tension gone as though it had never existed in the first place, and stood up to leave," Now then, good evening, Mr. Arc. Rest well."

Jaune nodded, mildly worried about the encounter and the knowledge he was being observed so closely, and Ozpin left without another word. That was definitely going to make things more difficult for him.

**(Hidden White Fang Base, Mountain Glenn)**

Neo Politan groaned, head rolling on the medical bed in the hidden base, and Roman smiled as she opened her heterochromatic eyes and looked around. "Good to see you up, Ice Cream cone. You passed out about three days ago on a mission. You okay?"

**(AN: So, there's the newest chapter. Hope you all enjoy it. Please leave a Review, or PM me if you posted Reviews on the original chapters, with any input or questions.)**


	5. Using

**(JNPR Dorm)**

A couple days later and Jaune had been released from the medical area for classes, though the doctors disbarred him from any combat for another few days. As of now, it was late and he was still reviewing the last bits of notes Pyrrha had taken, memorizing each lengthy, detailed page as soon as he saw it. He presumed this to be part of his Semblance, and after finding himself unable to revert his eyes to their prior blue, he had consigned himself to the dull throb constantly aching behind his eyes with even the slightest hint of Aura near his eyes.

"The Queen is back!" Nora half-yelled, throwing open our door and striding in, a tray weighted down with pizzas held aloft like a prize from a hunt. She looked at him, smiling brightly and walking towards him with the tray, waving it alluringly like some fancy dish. "Hungry?"

"Yes, I am." He quipped, and a tray slid onto the table beside him, with a pair of grape sodas and half a pizza all for him. "Thanks, Nora."

Jaune smiled lightly at Nora's way of conveying affection, surrendering an extra soda to him while he recovered. For a woman so bent on sweet things, surrendering her favored flavor of soda was both affectionate and a note of concern.

"Feeling better?" Jaune nodded at Ren's question, and the quiet man left it at that as was his usual way. No prying, no forcing the matter. Just voicing a concern and waiting. Instead, he looked over the papers his leader had been studying beforehand. "Almost caught up. Good."

"Woooooow!" Nora said, drawing the not out brightly as per usual. "That's a lot of work, Jauney!"

"It's not too much. Honest." He answered, taking a bite of the fresh, warm pizza and grabbing the last page, quickly analyzing and memorizing it and taking a few more moments to make it look good, so as not to have to explain anything yet. "In fact, I'm done."

Laziness and the habitual deception finally taking, mostly. Mildly disconcerting to the honest young man, but he took comfort both from the useful habitualization of his deceptions and the discomfort that the very habitualization caused him was still there.

"Good work," Pyrrha said from the door, walking in in her workout gear and stretching to ease tense muscles. "Tomorrow is Monday, so you need to review it again before bed."

"Got it, Pyr. Thanks again, for the notes. Big help." She hummed in acknowledgement, and the young woman walked into the bathroom without another word. Once again Jaune got this… Vibe from her of intense dissatisfaction, which he shrugged off as nothing more than his paranoia creeping in from weeks of sleeping in his armor, sword in hand, and waiting for something to leap out and tear into him, flesh rending from bone and-

He shook his head, forcefully discarding the images and thoughts and sighing before getting up and walking to his bed, appetite gone completely. Dropping into the bed, he waited until the lights went out and, mind racing, eventually drifted off to sleep.

The next morning was much of the same, though he remembered today would be the day in which Weiss fought the Boarbatusk one on one. He knew she'd win without a doubt, as she had done so before with little issue. Unfortunately, that would be after four hours of Port's class. And his inane stories.

So, with a sigh- which he excused as morning tiredness when Pyrrha asked- he started to get into uniform. Nora was, of course, first to get dressed and out the door with Ren as soon as he had also finished, leaving Jaune alone with Pyrrha when she left the bathroom. And Jaune, having noted her oddly unfriendly behaviors since their prior private talk –she was never antagonistic or unfriendly, it just seemed forced- decided to find out what was wrong, and help if he could.

"So, uh, Pyr… Did I make you mad or something?" He hated playing the dumb kid, but he needed time to slip out of that role. So for now, he spoke with the hesitancy and nervousness he so often used to have. "Cuz If I did, I'm sorry."

"I'm not… Angry. Just disappointed." She shook her head, sliding her crown-like adornment into place in her hair and adjusting her uniform a bit," I don't like people who are concerned solely with themselves, Jaune."

And she left, the door clicking shut quietly behind him and leaving him to think about what she'd said. What could she possibly be talking about? Who had agitated her in that way? Shrugging, he decided to just leave the issue for another time and grabbing the last couple slices of pizza from the night before, shoveling them into his mouth and heading towards the library.

Once there, he checked out a dozen books on Dust manipulation, architecture, machining, weapon and armor smithing, as well as electrical engineering and everything else he'd need to make himself a nice enterprise. Leaving the extra bag he'd brought to carry the books in his dorm next to his bed, he quietly made his way to Port's class.

The class was exactly as he remembered, and he casually copied all the information the older man had written on the board, or which he actually managed to teach between his lengthy, annoying stories about his 'younger days'.

"Now, who here knows how to kill an Alpha Beowolf in the easiest, most efficient manner?" No one raised their hands to Port's question, so he decided to pick someone on his own. "Mr. Arc, care to answer?"

"Wait for it to strike, hamstring its right leg, then wait for its counter-strike and go for its jugular. If you can't get to the jugular, the going into the skull through the eyes is also viable," Port blinked at the answer, and Jaune went back to writing in his note pad.

"That… Isn't in your text books, but that answer is entirely correct. Good work." Jaune nodded, ignoring him and idly writing out more ideas for himself to look into later and Port had a marvelous idea," You seem rather studious, Mr. Arc. Care to show your skill to the class against a Grimm?"

"I'm still recovering, sir." Jaune said, suddenly anxious at the change in events. What good would prior knowledge be if things changed? "The doctors said I cannot conduct combat exercises, unfortunately."

"Hmph, very well. Any volunteers then?" He asked loudly, eyeing Jaune before moving on with things.

Jaune himself was relieved and simply watched things unfold as they had previously. Weiss killed the Boarbatusk as she had before –sloppily, with little skill or finesses due to her allowing her emotions to run wild- and he ignored the drama unfolding in front of him between Weiss and Ruby. They had worked it out without his help the first time, after all, so he needn't intervene in that.

So, he consigned himself to further studying and trying to figure out how he was going to do what he needed and, more aptly, wanted to do. First, he needed money. And he knew just who might be willing to help him out with that… So perhaps intervening in their drama was prudent after all.

After class finally dismissed, Jaune was quietly walking a few feet behind his team when he spotted Weiss headed in the direction Port had gone and he decided now was when he should intervene and followed her. He knew where Port liked to go –a balcony near the administrative area where he could see the forest- and knew a better way to get there, and so headed Weiss off and waited a few feet from the exit outside for her after confirming Port was there.

He smiled, sitting in the shadows down the hall when Weiss passed," Going to see Peter?" She whirled, genuine shock on her features, and Jaune chuckled dryly," Professor Port. Why are you going to see him?"

"How dare you address him so informally when-"

"Oh please stop." He grunted, walking towards her," You were coming to tell him that you should be leader, yes?"

"Well… I should be. That child doesn't know anything about-"

"Leading?" He interrupted, and she scoffed in offense," The same girl which planned out and successfully executed a way to defeat an A-Class Grimm with a bunch of children?"

"I could have done that too."

"Yes, you could have. I know you could have. As do Ozpin and everyone else. You are already a good leader, proud and smart." She seemed to preen at the praise almost, gaining a confidence and opening her mouth to speak," That's why you aren't the leader."

"I don't follow." She said quietly, confusion etched into her face," If… I'm a good leader why wouldn't that make me a good choice?"

"Because the purpose is for her to grow and mature. You have always led and been made to lead. You are too proud, and that pride could be harmful unless it is lessened." He smiled kindly, and she seemed to understand only slightly," This is to teach you to follow instead of lead, so you will know how to take orders when the time comes. Humility is a valuable trait in a soldier, and what is a Huntsman if not a very specialized soldier?"

"I… See. I do not particularly care for it, but it makes sense I suppose. Grow us in ways we haven't bloomed as of yet, right?" She asked, looking at him with a raised eyebrow for confirmation.

"Yes exactly. This is why I'm a leader, instead of someone like Ren who is better suited already for the role. I am already a good enough fighter, and proficient in following. But I cannot lead, so I am made a leader." He stepped around her, striding away and stopping to seal the deal," If you wish to grow into a good leader, you must learn to follow first."

"Wait!" She said, and Jaune smiled and turned at the end of the hall as she walked towards him quickly and smiled," Thank you, Jaune. What you said was… Helpful. I owe you a great deal."

"Perhaps you would give me a hand then?" He asked innocently, turning towards her fully. She nodded and smiled, so he continued," I have certain… Ideas for mechanized units and weapons." He chuckled quietly," I was a bit of a prodigy in the field in my home town, but I'm too poor and poorly connected to pursue them in any way."

"I could help you! I can set you up to get into the next weapon's expo in Atlas next month, and get you the supplies to build something. It had better be good though, or I won't be able to do it again." She pulled out her scroll, flicking through contacts quickly with a delicate finger.

He smiled at her, so easy to manipulate even in spite of his disdain for actually doing it to her. Just stoke her ego ever so slightly and give her a way to feel useful, something she craved thanks to her issues with daddy, and she'd melt in your hands at this age. But… It was for the greater good to do it, it would save her life after all. And help people besides that, which was a Hunter's job.

**(White Fang Base, Mountain Glenn)**

Neo was anxious and angry, emotions she was not quite used to, especially not in her lines of work.

She was anxious because of where she was and what she was doing, packing her clothing and weapons in her private quarters as well as a dozen folders with valuable intelligence on the White Fang. And as much money as she could carry, of course.

She was angry because of how difficult things were going to be for her in the days to come. And even angrier because she didn't want to kill anyone while trying to get away to join up with her new 'boss'- though from what she'd been told, he'd likely dislike the entire premise of being her boss and might insist on another term- because he might not want that sort of thing to be common place.

So, with a pack full of clothes, folders containing information, and money she had squirreled away from jobs and targets she'd killed for Roman, Cinder and the Fang, she made her way toward the parked Bullheads, slinking through the shadows. Not much, but hopefully it would be enough to get started.

By the time she'd knocked out the two guards patrolling the area around the Bullheads, gotten everything packed in, and started getting the craft up and running, she sat back and punched in the coordinates she wanted to get to and smiled as the shuttle took off and shot out into the night air.

"Neo!" She winced, cruising away as Roman's voice crackled across the communication network," What is happening? Where are you going? Why-"She cut the connection, and slammed on the accelerator to get as far away from the voice, and everything to do with it, as she could. She didn't want to hurt Roman, but doing this could very well save his life in the end.


	6. Negotiations

**AN ~ **

**So, a reader named Groorar asked a very good, and highly appreciated, question regarding Pyrrha's behavior. Last chapter, she told Jaune she didn't like 'selfish people'. This was in reference to a misunderstanding she has that Jaune is pursuing his career for wealth alone due to an earlier conversation. Just thought, after discussing it with Groorar, that I would share that tidbit and give him a shout-out for the help. **

**Now, KingofKings (change your name pls, typing that in Autocorrect took fifteen minutes, lol) asked in Neo is from the future as well. Well, I did bait that. Yes, she is, which will be confirmed in-chapter below. He also asked about Roman, and honestly I find myself unsure how to approach him and the other 'villains' of RWBY. So, any advice or tips are welcome on that front.**

**So, anyone else seen the stuff for Fallout 4? That hype is real. Gonna get an Xbone just for that, in all honesty, as I highly, HIGHLY, doubt a 360 version is coming out (understandable)**

**Finally, as I am an unoriginal little cunt and can't think of an idea of my own (kidding here, mostly) I am taking a suggestion from my Co-Writer/Editor Jarl and my own, shall we say, self-satisfying fantasy for RWBY. Knightmares are coming, ripped straight out of Code Geass. To retain some minor vestige of sanity with it, however, I am limiting them to JUST the Sutherlands and maybe Glasgows if I feel like it. Call me crazy, but I think a massive army of Lancelots would be a wee bit over-powered. I am also making them more expensive to make than, say, a Paladin. Much better in every way, obviously, but more expensive. **

**Now then, that should about be it for my notes on this bit. Have fun with the actual freaking story! Please send me your thoughts to me in a Review or PM. They are much appreciated, and input is taken every time!**

**~Twisted **

**(Jaune Arc, Early Morning, Beacon Gym)**

Jaune groaned and stretched a bit, feeling the mildly tired muscles ache before his Aura began to mend the torn and frayed flesh, strengthening them naturally even if in a mildly artificial manner. He was merely getting back into the shape he'd been in prior to dying over the last few days, in any manner possible aside from the muscle memory of combat which would need actual fighting to regain.

He'd spent the last few days mulling over everything he knew thus far, and drawing up designs for an upcoming meeting with Weiss' father's friend, who was apparently in charge of Vale's military research departments and was looking for any advantages feasible over Atlesian technology. Which was normally an incredibly and monumentally tall task to ask for, but Jaune had enough knowledge of the tech to know that Atlas was barely scratching the surface of the Paladin-class mechanized units.

So he'd focused on drawing every inch of the designs based on memory of their function and appearance, and combined with dozens of books full of Dust manipulation mechanics. Sadly, he had run into a problem. The weapons themselves were not functioning on paper, and what good was a war-machine which could not wage war? The KMF rifle was designed around the Knightmare, just like the Knightmare was designed around pilot protection. For now, he had simply attached a sword onto the designs and ignored that hole in its offense for now. He needed to talk to a weapon expert to get advice on how to design the rifle. And, looking up when the door opened, he saw a perfect example to talk to.

Ruby and Yang had shown up for their Saturday morning excercises - something Jaune remembered was a rule the older of the two enforced mercilessly on the younger – and that gave Jaune the perfect opportunity to ask for the girl's help with his designs.

So, he hopped up and grabbed his backpack before they noticed him, grabbing his notebook out and walking to a wall to wait for Ruby to, inevitably, use him as a chance to distract Yang from working out. Which came quickly, the younger girl spotting him and darting over to say hello.

"Hi Jaune, what's up?" She quipped, and he grunted in greeting, tilting his notes to let her see them easily. She took it quickly, sitting down in her black sweats and tank top in front of him and scanning the pages," Are you designing a mech?"

"Yes. Weiss set me up with a meeting with someone in charge of military sciences in Vale later, and I'm just touching it up," He sighed dramatically, running his hand through his hair in faux exasperation to sell it to her," But I just can't get a working gun designed for it."

"Well, you should probably use something light and one-handed, since it is built for mobility. That'd also mean you could use the sword in tandem if you have the-"

"Ruby Rose, today is training day! You know you don't get out of it unless you-"Jaune chuckled quietly at Yang, smiling ever so slightly as she 'mother henned' over Ruby like she always had throughout the time he'd known her in both lives.

"Yaaaaang! Jaune is designing a weapon for Vale, and needs help! It's important!" He almost laughed out loud when she stamped her foot and pouted at the older woman.

"Oh?" She plucked the notes out of her sister's hands, skimming them with intelligent eyes before sighing and handing it back," Well, it looks like schematics I guess. Fine. You can have today off," she pointed sternly at Jaune, glaring slightly," but you better giver her credit for her help."

"I wouldn't even consider not doing so, Yang." He said simply, chuckling internally when she grabbed his own tank top by the front and pulled him up to look in his face. He made a mild show of panicking ever so slightly, but she dropped him as quick as she'd yanked him up and sauntered off to beat on a punching bag a couple dozen feet away. "She's intense…"

"Yeah, you get used to it," the young savant said quietly, and absentmindedly, as she scribbled and wrote out line after line on several previously blank sheets of his notebook's paper, torn out and scattered about as she worked.

Jaune merely chuckled, smiling at the familiarity of it," I want it to be accurate, automatic, pierce armor, and capable of being used with one hand." And he sat next to her, watching her work to completion and, as per usual with her and anything mechanical, perfection after an hour.

She held the final work up proudly to show him, like a child displaying a drawing, and he looked at it. "One-handed, a thousand rounds in a magazine, accurate up to a hundred meters and use exploding rounds!"

"Absolutely perfect, Ruby. This will fit perfectly," The gun resembled a rather boxy sub-machine gun, with a grip just under the barrel for two-handed accuracy, and the entire thing was absolutely perfect. So he collected the papers detailing it, grabbed his notebook and stood up," I have to get going, need a shower and stuff before I meet up with Weiss to go see the contact I'm supposed to meet."

He smiled at her warmly as she trudged off to join her sister for training, and he jogged back to his room. The rest of his team had already gone to Vale for the day, intent on enjoying their Saturday off relaxing, so he showered and changed into his academy uniform – the closest thing to something formal he owned presently – and went to wait at the landing pads for Weiss.

While he waited, sitting alone by the door, he decided to clean up his notes to look better. Once that was completed he grabbed his Scroll to check his messages, and smiled when he saw a response from his parents. He had, indeed, missed them greatly and, when they asked in the letter if he would, he promised to visit as soon as possible.

The next was the predicted mail from Weiss, instructing him to be showered, have his notes and information prepared, and make sure everything was ready for the meeting. He would NOT be getting a second chance at this, as her father had said himself, so if he messed up he'd be dead in the water and without help in his endeavors. Additionally, he'd have a black mark on him forever in the corporate world for the screw up.

The final message was… Slightly odder and rather mysterious. It didn't have an address tagged like everyone else's had. He knew that it was possible to do that, but not many knew how and few who did bothered with it. Doing so was rather useless as a Scroll could be traced, meaning it hides nothing to anyone who cared to look. So he opened it, curiosity alone demanding it.

_'__Jaune Arc, my name is Neo. You know me, sort of, from before you keeled over. Now, I have some serious information on the White Fang, money for whatever you have planned, and you know very well how useful I am in a fight. I'm in a safe house in Vale right now, waiting for you. Apartment number 9923, Ripley Street. Don't keep me waiting, Future Boy.'_

It was followed by what appeared to be a kissy face, and Jaune blinked and reread it before memorizing the number and street and deleting the message. This… Could prove useful. Very, very useful indeed.

Closing the Scroll and sliding it into his pocket, he smiled at Weiss and followed her onto the private Bullhead without a word. All the while, ideas and plans whirred through his brain. Money, an assassin with incredibly formidable skills, and information on his opponent's moves so soon was a major boon to him indeed. And one he could make great use of.

But he was forced to file those thoughts away when he sat beside Weiss in the small, private Bullhead, and spoke for politeness' sake," Morning, Weiss. Sleep well?"

"Yes, I did. Do you have all the necessary information to show the sciences chief when we get there?" He nodded, holding the notepad up demonstratively and she smiled in a satisfied way. "Good. Now, tell me its name and how it functions. The abridged version, if you please."

"The Knightmare frame, designation Sutherland, is a ten meter tall, one man assault mech, capable of unleashing levels of destruction that would compete with a veteran Hunter when combatting Grimm." He smiled, leaning back in his seat," It features a nose-mounted, belt-fed machine gun that carries ten-thousand small caliber rounds in the frame itself to fire and a hand-held rifle with one thousand rounds per magazine that fires exploding rounds capable of devastating buildings, land and, more importantly, armored Grimm. The sword serves as a side-arm, and can easily cut through Grimm armor whenever needed."

"Sounds pretty impressive." She nodded in satisfaction, turning to whisper quietly," Knightmare, Sutherland… Got it."

"Relax, Weiss. If anyone can get this going, it's you. I don't know anyone more brilliant at business negotiations and management than you," He placed a hand on her shoulder, looking her full in the face," I trust you with this, above all others."

He turned away and missed her blush, closing his eyes and relaxing on the ride. He simply meditated in silence, and didn't resist when she took the notebook to skim the drawings and information therein. After another half an hour of flying – during which time, Jaune did his utmost to hold his breakfast in – and then a solid hour of riding in Weiss' car they finally ended the comfortably silent trip.

Now, they waited for the person they were to meet to finally arrive, while Jaune studied the information Weiss had given him when prompted to see what he was like. By all reports, a kind and highgly intelligent, if equally competitive, man. From his picture, he looked to be a thin, wiry old man with graying hair who looked sturdy in spite of his age, with hard and warm brown eyes and pale skin -presumably his long hours in his labs and meetings like this one.

When the man himself arrived, he wasted no time on pleasantries and immediately spoke in his quiet and authoritative, looking at Weiss," Why did you have your father arrange this meeting, Miss Schnee?"

"We understand that you need a new advancement in militarily applied sciences to compete with the other Kingdoms. Specifically, in the mechanized sector to compete with Atlesian technology," Weiss stood up, walking behind Jaune confidently with a swagger in her shoulders and sway in her hips before placing a hand on his right shoulder," My partner, Jaune, has a design that, I'm sure, you will find to suit your needs perfectly."

"Oh? And how, pray tell, does he plan to compete with the Paladin prototypes already being deployed in Atlesian lands?" The question was not mocking, despite the words, and he sat down as Jaune stood and Weiss stepped away to let him speak, as they had planned.

"I apologize, but I only have hand-drawn diagrams and blueprints." Jaune shrugged, walking around and handing the papers to the doctor," I didn't quite expect to get to see someone so soon."

"Fairly understandable," He muttered off-handedly, taking the papers and glancing at them without much care. Once he saw what was on the pages, however, his face grew serious and he straightened subconsciously in his seat. "These designs are… How did you come up with this?"

"It just sort of… Came to me. I mean, we have troubles fighting massive Grimm because of size. So why not put a trained fighter in a bigger body and then they can fight those massive Grimm easily." He shrugged, watching the man's reactions to his words with spinning Sharingan eyes, smiling warmly at the scientist when he looked up," Is there… Some problem in the designs? A flaw?"

"No! No, not at all." He grabbed a page detailing the energy core, pointing at the center," This. Using raw Red Dust as a power source and shielding the core with insulated armor plating laced with Green Dust and cooled with Blue? Inspired! That alone could advance how we power basic mechanized units."

"I'm glad you find it useful." He said simply, smiling," Feel free to use it in research. As long as the weapons are turned against the Grimm, I don't care what you do with it." Honest and it would also appeal both to his research loving heart as well as subtley steer the research into anti-Grimm applications. "So then, can I count on you helping me flesh this out to get a Sutherland prototype up and running?"

"I will… I will look into these designs and get to work on a prototype immediately," Jaune smiled at the man, who seemed to become quite animated as he picked up the page with the rifle Ruby had designed," This, in particular, is quite innovative. You, sir, are brilliant."

"Actually, a friend of mine helped with the gun. Not very good with ballistics, I'm afraid." Jaune chuckled, and the man joined him comfortably. This told Jaune that the man was already comfortable with him, likely due to the prospects of such advancement via the new Knightmare frame. Weiss smiled, approaching the two of them quietly.

"We can have her come in to speak to you some time, if you wish?" She offered, diplomatic smile on her face. The man seemed to enjoy the idea, and Jaune stood before they could start discussing things.

"If you will both excuse me, I have some things to take care of in town. I trust Weiss implicitly with the finances and negotiation." They both accepted this, and Jaune walked from the room and, as calmly and quickly as possible, left the building.

He had an appointment with an assassin to keep, after all. And she, regardless of whether he let her live through the night or not, had valuable information he would need. Because once he had a Knightmare he could wield in battle, and money to make more and hire people to crew them, he had very special plans in place. It was no accident that the Sutherland was designed to use a sword just like he did, after all.


	7. A New Ally, Perhaps

**(Downtown Vale City, Residential Districts)**

Jaune took a steadying breath, adjusting his new black trench coat as he clambered out of the taxi he'd hired. Normally, Jaune had never liked dark clothing, but ever since coming back… He found himself enjoying quieter venues and when he saw the long coat he couldn't help but buy it. The coat was simple and plain, with padding inside the arms and the sections that covered the chest, giving it a minor role in defense. Not enough to do much, but good enough for lesser hits.

Simple, plain, not too flashy, and pretty useful. So that's every check mark in his book, which is why he was wearing it now.

Looking around, he groaned internally and started walking up the steps towards the apartment building as the car pulled away and drove off. He'd always hated this particular part of the residential districts, along the southern wall of Vale. It was seedy, a den for criminals, aptly nick-named Blood-Light District. As he approached the apartment that his supposed accomplice resided, he looked down both directions of the street warily, in case of any tricks. His right was empty, devoid of life entirely aside from single hobo huddled next to a wall a dozen yards away, and the only occupant on his left was a Faunus prostitute leaning by the traffic lights and smoking a cigarette with a glazed expression on her listless face.

He averted his eyes before she noticed him and pursued his patronage, pushing the door open and walking into the poorly maintained hallway. It didn't take long to find the room he'd been told to go to, and he simply shoved the door open with his Sharingan spinning rapidly to evaluate whatever he would find.

The door opened to reveal a small girl with heterochromatic eyes and hair, a pink dress top, and tight leotard pants, in the one-room apartment that jumped up, startled and clearly off guard – which gave Jaune a mild sense of amusement – before kicking the door closed behind him. As he stepped into the room, his eyes raked over every inch of the girl for weapons and found no unnatural bulges, aside from her umbrella within arm's length, which he saw had a screw at odd places, hinting to him a hidden weapon, but she made no move for it, satisfied with his assessment Jaune took a seat across from her on a creaking wooden chair and glanced around the room curiously.

The apartment itself was rather Spartan – a small fridge and table in the far right corner, and a tiny coffee table in front of a medium sized black couch and a pair of wooden chairs, one of which had been moved opposite the girl, presumably meant for him to have a seat.

Looking back at the girl, he noted that she seemed exhausted as though she hadn't slept for a long time. Which, now that he thought about it, was rather likely if she was already with the Fang when she… Woke up, or came back, or whatever.

He still didn't know what the fuck to refer to the event that dumped him here and, apparently, her as well as.

Sighing for what felt like the millionth time that day, he crossed his arms and relaxed moderately, "So, I'm here. What now?"

She reached up, touching her throat and mimed speaking before shaking her head and grimacing.

"Mute?"

She nodded.

"Injury?" He asked, natural curiosity distracting him once again.

She shook her head, reaching under the table while he watched her warily and pulled a notepad from under it. He held up a hand to stop her, and she blinked at him.

"I assume you know sign language, as do I. Just use that. Better than wasting the paper that could be traced back to us." He explained, using Sign language in the last sentence to prove his point, she seemed too smiled at that despite her exhaustion.

_"__I'm an assassin, and have sworn not to speak. Ever." _She signed quickly, Jaune's Sharingan eyes easily picking up the rapid symbols, and allowing him to keep up effortlessly.

"I see. Well, I suppose there's nothing for it." He shrugged uncaringly," Now then, what do you want?"

_"__I want to help you fix everything."_ She signed easily. _"I may be a criminal, but I'm not evil. I don't want the Kingdoms destroyed, which was where we both know how things went down first time."_

"True, true. But what can you offer me?" He glared at the girl, an icy tone filling his voice, and she flinched, "You were a key player in making what happened happen. Why shouldn't I kill you now and move forward with my own plans?"

_"__Because I am more useful to you alive than dead."_ She signed simply, smiling mildly confidently, _"I'm a trained assassin, with ties to the criminal world. I can and will help you handle things you couldn't otherwise do."_

"Like? What could you possibly do for me that I can't do on my own?" He asked with raised brows, ideas already shooting through his head – including ways to use/kill her and eliminate the evidence.

_"__Well, a Huntsman can't kill off criminals involved with Cinder, or sabotage political enemies. A Huntsman also can't spy and assassinate. I can do the criminal things you may need done for you, and make sure no one knows you are involved."_ She smiled almost psychotically but there was a hint of nervousness that indicated she felt my KI flare, and were he himself few decades younger, he might have been too frightened to pick up her nervousness, _"I can be the knife you slide into people's ribs. Or throats. I prefer the second option."_

"I could use a skilled assassin, I suppose. For… Future proofing my plans, as it were." He shrugged and rolled his neck, cracking it quietly," But I will not, for any reason, tolerate you killing random people. You work for me and me alone, no one else."

_"__Fair enough, though that means I have no income."_ She signed, shrugging her shoulders and relaxing slightly. Jaune took note, and realized she thought he might actually have tried to kill her right off the bat – especially after mentioning it as callously as he had done.

"That won't be a problem, I have a project coming through with Vale's military science division, and I'll spare some cash for you then. You can also start fucking with the Fang's operations to make money. Whatever you find is yours."

_"__That's pretty generous."_ She smiled that psychotic smile of hers again, _"I also have some money I stole from the Fang. It's how I got this apartment-"_

"Abandon this apartment by tomorrow. Take that money and buy another in my name with room for two. Anyone asks, make something up. I'll be using it to crash on weekends so we can plan." She nodded, and he smiled, it was good that she was immediately submitting to his authority so early, "Also, you mentioned information? I want copies of those files. All of them. If you can, try and start getting some sort of… Business set up with the money you get. The more legitimate you become the higher up we can move."

_"__Understood."_ She turned, reaching between the cushions of the couch and pulling a medium sized folder out, _"I've already copied it all. Figured you might want copies, and I need you to keep an eye out if they start searching for me."_

"That is a problem, yes." He smiled cockily at her, "That's why you haven't slept well in a while isn't it then? Anxiety?" She nodded and he sighed good naturedly, holding his hands out to his sides in faux-exasperation, "What kind of agent can you be when you're tired? I'll have to stay the night, I guess. So you can rest up. No one can get past me and beat us both in a fight."

_"__That would be kind of you. I can get out in the morning, find a place and get it in your name, and then get to work."_

"Think nothing of it. Now, get to bed. I'll set up some traps for us and lay on the couch." She nodded, hopping up from the couch and walking towards a cot nearby, kicking off her boots and tossing the dress shirt away, the upper half of a leotard underneath. "Good night."

_"__Good night." _She returned, laying down on the cot without any blankets and curling into a small ball.

He sat for a moment, before standing up and feeling the air. It was rather cold, so he walked over to her and laid the jacket over her. She started slightly, looking up at him before he turned and walked away and she tucked it around herself.

He spent the next hour setting up a dozen or so traps around the apartment's windows and door to warn of intruders before, himself, laying down on the couch and meditating. Not sleeping, merely resting and retaining his awareness to protect his new ally.

The night was uneventful, filled with miscellaneous sounds outside like cars and sirens and Neo's even, comfortable breathing. At least Neo was a quiet sleeper, unlike Nora.

**(AN: So, what do you guys think thus far? Any input is welcomed and thanked greatly. I do try and respond to every single review, so feel free to offer questions, advice and such. You'll get a response shortly, or as soon as I get online again and receive the e-mail.) **


	8. Testing a New Toy

**(Jaune Arc, Beacon Academy Headmaster's Office, The Next Friday)**

"Come again?" Ozpin asked quickly, slightly amused and surprised at Jaune's request.

The boy in question sighed, crossing his arms and leaning back In the comfortable seat," I want to take teams RWBY and JNPR with me to test a weapon I designed against the Grimm this weekend."

"And why are you testing a weapon, exactly?" Ozpin asked curiously, idly stirring his coffee. "Furthermore, why exactly do you want to drag two teams out with you to do it?"

"I designed the weapon, thanks to some help from Ruby and Weiss. I think they both deserve to be there to see it in action first and don't want to separate their teams. I also don't wish to alienate my own team by leaving them out of this." He shrugged simply," Plus, my weapon is designed to be backed up by others of its type or Hunters. This will demonstrate its effectiveness with Hunters as well as it simply functioning."

"I see." Ozpin grunted, sipping his tea quietly and rocking his chair back and forth slightly. "I assume you're asking today because this test is soon?"

"Yes, sir. It's scheduled to start as soon as I arrive, and I intend to leave as soon as we're done talking." The aged professor nodded, grabbing his Scroll and pressing a series of buttons.

"Very well. Both teams may depart immediately for this test of yours. I look forward to seeing this… 'Kinghtmare' in action once it is ready for full production." Jaune opened his mouth to question him, and Ozpin held up a hand to silence him," There's nothing which occurs concerning my students I am not privy to. Now have a good day." Jaune quietly stood up, taking a proffered paper with his signature on it, and walked from the office, only mildly confused by the professor's oddly cryptic statement. A minute after he had gone, Ozpin sighed quietly and spoke to himself," Now if only I could figure out your particular puzzle, Mister Arc."

Jaune, however, did not hear that, having already shut the door and started walking down the halls towards the combat arena, where he knew his friends would be waiting for Miss Goodwitch to begin her classes. Instead, when Jaune arrived, he extended an invitation to them. Ruby and Weiss were on board, of course, the former practically bouncing with excitement at the prospect of fighting Grimm and seeing and the latter saying she would be 'Going along for business purposes, obviously.'

Yang decided to tag along to keep an eye on Ruby, and both Nora and Ren agreed to come as well, the former to control the latter's exuberance. Blake was coming to keep Yang company, and to avoid explaining their absence to Miss Goodwitch, Jaune presumed. Pyrrha said nothing, merely smiling lightly and nodding when Nora asked if she was coming along.

So, an hour later, they touched down at an area a mile outside Vale's walls. The area was bustling – mechs walking the perimeter for security and a few drones moving around, shifting crates and other monotonous jobs, and a few scientists and men and women in military dress.

Jaune had seen military tests before, and the half dozen people here were not a very large gathering. Presumably because Jaune wasn't well known among the weapon making circles. And Vale was not exactly well known for enjoying such large scale machines, instead relying on Hunters more than most other Kingdoms for Grimm control.

They were on a plateau in Grimm territory, a place commonly used for testing military tools. The Knights, the small drones fielded by Atlas currently that would be replaced by Mark Twos soon, had been tested here as had many other machines of war. It was a good place to set up, safe enough from the Grimm.

He left his group, jogging across from the small landing area to where he knew the Knightmare was hidden, under a massive burlap cloth covering. K was there, pressing buttons on his Scroll quietly and smiling calmly.

"K, how's it going?" Jaune asked quietly, looking at the brown cloth calmly. "Everything going alright?"

"Yes, yes. It's… Amazing, how easily everything functions. We didn't need to modify it or replace anything from the designs you drew." The excited man turned to look at him, smiling," You are certain you never designed these before?"

"No, never seriously at least." Something he could honestly say to be true, for once, in completeness. "I've sketched and doodled forever, but I've never… Had one, you know, built."

"Well, the machine is perfect. Everything functions just as you designed it to, and we can start as soon as you're ready to go." He pointed behind him, at a hauler-class Bullhead," That will drop you and your friends off at the base of the cliff. We just need to test the machine's functions."

"Got it. Mind going and briefing my friends too? I'm going to get into the Knightmare, start firing it up." The professor nodded, waving his assistants towards them to do the monotonous task for him.

"Here's the key," Jaune took the dangling stick, and several drones undid the pegs holding the cloth down and dragging it away.

The Sutherland class Knightmare was precisely as he remembered seeing them, aside from the armor plates which had been painted a dark green with red borders all along the connecting points for the armor, joints and plating. Jaune smiled almost like a kid, the excitement of finally really making a major step forward shooting through him like a shot of pure adrenaline.

"Damn, she sure looks good." Jaune jerked in surprise, spinning to see the brash brawler, Yang, standing a few feet away from him.

"That's my gun design!" Ruby squealed, shooting forward to where the kneeling machine's weapon was sitting beside it, leaning against the knee. She immediately started railing on about the weapon's inner machinations, and the metal it was constructed from. Jaune chuckled, climbing up the machine's knee and arm to open the cockpit, quickly sliding into it to escape the conversation he knew was brewing.

He'd only ever once piloted a Knightmare, a couple years before he died, but thanks to the Sharingan's passive abilities, he could immediately recall the controls. So, plugging his key into the slot, he quickly and easily turned the machine on.

It whirred quietly, and thrummed as he grabbed the two analogue controls and slid his feet into the pedals behind him in the seat to control the speed and movement of the legs.

Outside, everyone took several steps back as Jaune commanded the machine to stand, walking around the area experimentally before turning the head towards the group of people," Everything seems to be running at one hundred percent. Seems good to go. Are the Harkens functioning?"

"Yes, but we haven't had time to-"

Jaune ignored K's assistant, turning and deploying the Landspinners to propel his machine to the plateau's edge. The he turned, shooting the Harkens into the ground and sliding backwards off the cliff, using the Harkens to hold the machine up and sliding down the cliff effortlessly with the large rifle, which K called a Knightmare Carbine, held in its right hand until the machine could – and did – safely drop down the rest of the way.

Jaune was, quite simply, having a blast.

"Well, aside from my complaints about you risking the prototype like that, I must say I am quite excited by how the Harkens are working. Your friends are on their way down now, just give them a moment." True to his word, the Bullhead swung down the cliff a moment later and dropped them off next to his machine.

Jaune smiled inside the machine, turning its head to look around and scanning the area for any motion around him before speaking," Just follow me, try and support me. Keep out of the way of my lines of fire and keep at range from me during movements. I don't wish to hurt you."

He didn't wait for their response, redeploying the Landspinners and shooting forward to start searching for any Grimm in the area. The two teams kept pace rather well, and followed his instructions very, very well.

A large, quickly spinning iron wheel will tends to keep people at bay.

It didn't take too long to find some Grimm, a pack of about thirty or so Beowolves nesting in a clearing popping up on his sensors. He smiled viciously – he despised Beowolves greatly – and halted his machine, kneeling and waiting for the others to catch up. When they did, he spoke," So, I'm going to head in there and engage them. You guys keep them from escaping, okay?"

"You are sure you can take that many alone?" Pyrrha asked quietly, barely being picked up by the Knightmare's sound receivers.

"I designed this machine specifically to allow non-Hunters to engage packs like this effectively." He paused for a minute, thinking quietly," Just support me. You think I'm in trouble, you can come in. Okay?"

"Yeah, if you say you got it, you got it, gearhead." Yang grunted, plopping down on a log several feet away from the machine, lounging cockily against a tree.

"Stay on your toes, Xiao Long. Grimm could slam into us in force any minute now, and tear you apart if you aren't ready," he snapped, Knightmare standing up and drawing his side-sword in his off-hand from the sheath dangling from the back of his cockpit.

He didn't wait for her to respond, though he noted a mildly surprised and offended look, instead slashing through the tree he'd previously been hiding behind and practically throwing the trunk towards the Grimm. It crushed two, killing both instantly. He raised the Carbine, and opened up.

The rounds slammed into Grimm and dirt alike, and sent the chunks of both flying into the air as the beasts intelligently spread out and began to charge from multiple sides.

He lowered the Carbine, firing from the machine's hip at his right side and opening up with the nose-gun on the forward group. Both shredded the oncoming Grimm easily as he slowly backed up, out of practice, not fear. This guaranteed more kills, after all, which was the point.

Once the dozen surviving Grimm reached his machine, he spun and his sword tore through half of them easily before he impaled another of them. The last few were easily crushed, and one even tried to flee when the Alpha was killed. It didn't get far, a shot from Ruby's rifle-form Crescent Rose tearing it apart easily.

The rest of the day was spent as such for Jaune and his friends, testing his machine's mettle against the Grimm of the wilds. It, as Jaune had expected, performed perfectly.

A good day was had for all involved. Well, maybe not the Grimm.

**(Neo Politan, Vale Industrial Districts, That Same Day)**

Neo smiled, sitting squat on the warehouse's rafter and twirling her sword idly. It was a White Fang storage area, where a lot of weapons – and more importantly, to her, money to buy ammunition and more guns – and all she need to do was kill the guards and collect the cash.

This, for her, was easy enough to do. She smiled when she saw a pair of guards patrolling, rifles in their hands, and quietly dropped down onto a massive storage crate, slinking along and dropping down until she was walking right behind them. When they stopped walking for a moment, one kneeling to lace up his shoes, she struck.

She straightened upwards at a mild angle, and her blade slid through the standing man's throat. The angle of the blade meant that, though he was dead, the only inclination of it was his rifle dropping from numb hands. When the second turned, fear evident in his mannerisms, she slammed her crotch into his face and gripped with her thighs as the first man collapsed without her holding the blade up. A quick jerk of her hips ended the second easily.

She grabbed her sword, slinking forward and peeking through the crack of the door. Two guards, only one armed in any manner, and both facing away from her in the office area. She smiled, eyes focusing on the small girl sitting at the desk, and she shoved the door open. The two spun, and the armed one tried to raise his weapon.

Neo's blade shot from her hand, stabbing deep into his chest and protruding from the back as he toppled, and she shot forward to grab the girl's throat before she could dive for the fallen weapon and shoved her against a wall and tossed her mask away.

Cute girl, with a baby doll face and short, black hair. Terrified too, and rightly so, as Neo ran her hand across her face. She smiled as the girl opened her mouth to speak, one hand clamping down on her throat and beginning to strangle her as she leaned forward to kiss her, eyes watching her own frantically jerk in fear as the girl struggled.

The small assassin easily defended against the rapidly failing attacks, kicks and wild punches either being blocked or failing to pierce her Aura. Within a minute, the girl was dead and Neo sighed, letting her collapse to the side before wiping her face and starting her search for any money she could find.

She found a few hundred thousand Lien there, and cast one last, disappointed, look at the dead girl before leaving. She had plenty of money now to do as instructed, and hadn't killed anyone she didn't need to. She just wished she'd been able to stay and play with her some more before killing her.

**(AN: Okay, so, wow. I apparently have a Daedric Lord following this story. Lol. That's a thing, I suppose. Anyway, Prince Sheogorath asked why the Sharingan is involved. Well, honestly, the story drifted from my original intentions. It's no longer as important as I meant it to be, but it'll come into its own later. Thanks for the review!**


	9. Showing Off a New Toy MK II

**(Soooo, putting a thing about Neo that was supposed to be important in with the giant awesome robots is apparently a bad idea. Lol. No one commented on it, which I was looking forward to.**

**Anyway, just wanted to say that nothing quite amuses me and enthuses me to write as seeing messages/reviews popping up in my Inbox. Like, I see it pop up and I'll get uber excited. Dunno why, exactly, but that's just how I am. Also, I almost always respond to any questions posed as soon as I see them. So if you ask a question, check your Fanfiction inbox the next day you probably have a response.**

**Now, I got a question from Zero. He asked why the cockpit of the Sutherland was different. Well, I planned on clarifying that in an AN last chapter but… I forgot. Sorry.**

**Anyway, the Knightmare may be named the Sutherland but there are a few key differences. A major one is the addition of a sword which is attached to an offshoot of the frame proper on the back of the Cockpit, and functions/looks almost exactly like the Lancelot's sword when you first see it at Shinjuku. Well, aside from the red shell I think I remember it having.**

**The cockpit proper is a lot like the Gurren's, sort of. At least, you sit in it in the same manner as Kallen does in her mech. Pedals in the back for each leg deploy the Landspinners and acceleration/deceleration for each is controlled by the corresponding leg's acceleration/deceleration, much like a car's pedals.**

**The paint is also different. Instead of the standard 'royal' purple that the Sutherlands of Britannia were, these are painted in what I have decided are Vale's national colors – Green mainly, with a subset of dark red. The armor plates are colored green, and each plate's edging is colored the dark red, allowing the machine to have a spider web of red lines across its plates all over its body, which can be minorly menacing and reminiscent of Grimm.**

**Other than these things, it looks and behaves exactly like a Sutherland save for when piloted by exceptionally skilled pilots. Attributes which affect use of a Knightmare are Dexterity and Perception and, just like in Britannia, Aces will end up being understandably sought out. Jaune himself is one, as he has the highest perceptive ability possible thanks to the Sharingan and, unlike anyone else, has the entirety of the machine memorized which is also due to the Sharingan.**

**Well, that should do it. Sorry for the long Note, I'll get to the story now.**

**(Jaune Arc, Downtown Vale, the Day after Knightmare Testing)**

Jaune smiled, genuinely excited for the first time since returning to this time in his life, at the news in front of him. He was currently at the apartment Neo had procured, watching the news as it displayed the Knightmare he had piloted the day before, and idly working on his sword – sharpening and otherwise maintaining it – which was, to him, mildly therapeutic.

He was presently waiting for Weiss to message him, and tell him whether or not he had to go to the unveiling of the Knightmare. He sincerely hoped beyond hope that he would NOT have to go to it, as the massive crowd would have his nerves a wreck annoyingly quickly. Weiss was the one with business knowledge and public speaking skills, not him, so she could hopefully handle all the talking and question answering for him. He was mildly concerned over how Weiss' family would react to her having a private enterprise of her own – plus Jaune – that was strictly a 'Vale only' business and which wouldn't be shared with her family.

He really, really doesn't like crowds at all, so that particular bit of potential drama was acceptable.

He flinched in spite of himself, hand slamming down on the hilt of his sword when he heard the door creak open, and turned… To see Neo walking in with some sodas and what looked like beer to him. She grinned at his reaction, walking into the room and dropping the stuff off in the kitchen half of the apartment's main room.

"It's not funny, Neo." He grunted, turning back around and returning to working on his sword – having moved on to trying to refine the shield/sheath so it could collapse and unfold faster – and she hopped over the top of the couch, lying out across it comfortably.

The apartment was a regular one-person, typically used by students to Beacon for weekends away from the academy itself – as everyone needed a place to call their own, especially older students – in a neighborhood known for that very purpose. Many such students occupied the apartments neighboring his own, in multiple buildings along the street.

The kitchen and living room were one, single, medium-sized room and a small hallway led back to the bathroom and the bedroom, which were similarly small, but which he also similarly didn't care about. Besides, the apartment was pre-furnished, and thus required absolutely no real effort from Jaune.

Which he thoroughly enjoyed and took great advantage of.

His was on the third floor - overlooking the street rather nicely - and he rather liked it. It was a nice place. Simple, but quiet, and nice. Small, too, but he really didn't care. All in all, it was absolutely perfect for an assassin that didn't care and a young knight who cared even less than the assassin did.

Lifting the remote, he flipped to the news to see what was happening in the world as he heard the door open and shut and Neo strutted into the apartment behind him, tossing a can of grape soda at his head. He deftly caught it, turning to glare lightly at her to which she merely chuckled and hopped over the couch's edge to lounge along the rest of it, though she was short enough that her feet barely reached his waist – which annoyed her, since she couldn't poke him to annoy HIM.

Cracking open one of the sodas, he took a quick sip and set it on the small coffee table in front of him – the living room being furnished only slightly better than Neo's old one in the much seedier part of town, and the kitchen wasn't much better, nor the bedroom. But furnished didn't mean 'fancy', nor did Jaune or Neo much require it to be – and gave Neo a look, then looked at the packs of soda, and alcohol, and smiled thinly," Where'd you get money?"

She merely pointed at the television, and Jaune turned his attention to it as a woman started talking, even turning the volume up a bit as he listened," Last night, four bodies were found in a previously abandoned warehouse. These bodies were dressed as members of the White Fang, and the warehouse looted of any money on the premises. Authorities do not know who did this, but-"Jaune turned off the television, turning his eyes on Neo once again.

"That was you?" She nodded, and he sighed and leaned back on the couch," Please, tell me you didn't leave any evidence? Not even slight bits of it?"

_"__Of course not. I am an experienced, skilled, highly trained murderer, thank you very much. I know how to murder a bunch of people without leaving evidence."_ She genuinely pouted at him from her end of the couch, reaching into the bag on the ground and grabbing a bottle of alcohol.

"Smart ass… I'm just looking out for you." He grumbled, turning away and grabbing his soda once more – a bit forcefully due to the mild aggravation – and taking a long draught. She gave him a meaningful, teasing look and he grunted," Only because if you get caught, I get screwed."

_"__Nah, I think you like me."_ She prodded his leg with her foot and he glared at her, using his red eyes to intimidate her – or trying rather, as she simply laughed slightly and waved her hands around slightly at him_," Oooo, so scary!" _And she stuck her tongue out at him.

"I do not 'like' you. You are merely a partner, of sorts." He turned away, sighing morosely," All the shit you did in the old world? I very, very nearly broke your neck when I went to meet you."

_"__Oh, you know just how to talk to me~"_ She smiled, poking his hip a few times with her foot playfully.

"Please, stop touching my hip." He grunted, finally satisfied with his weapon's condition and sheathing the blade – laying it on the table in front of him, easily within both sight and reach – and leaning back in the couch, checking his Scroll for the fifth time in the last half hour for messages.

Neo smiled broadly, taking a long draught from the bottle and poking him again_," Aw, you mad I'm touching you? I'd think you'd enjoy such a pretty thing touching on you~"_

He raised an eyebrow at her, grimacing slightly," What, exactly, is going on with you right now?"

_"__I had some fun last night, but didn't get as much out of it as I could, so I'm bored."_ She shrugged, taking another drink and he shook his head.

"So go have some more 'fun' tonight, or tomorrow, you little sociopath." He grunted, and she smiled again – aggravating him to no end – and he opened his mouth to speak when his Scroll went off in his coat's pocket. She hopped up as he pulled it out, walking into the kitchen to toss the empty bottle out.

_'__I need you to come by the debut. I told you already you might need to be here to take questions I myself am unable to answer. I handled everything else, you just need to come by and make a showing since it is your business being debuted, not mine. ~ Weiss.'_

He sighed, standing up and grabbing another soda – tossing the empty can at Neo's head, which she deftly caught and tossed into a trash can fluidly – before responding.

_'__On my way, be there in twenty minutes or so. Do me a favor and have something to drink waiting? Thanks. ~ Jaune'_

"Dust damn it…" He muttered, sighing as he stood up and shoved the device back in his pocket – sending Weiss a quick message telling her he would be there shortly – and walking towards the door," Schnee needs me at the debut for some stupid ass reason. Back in a bit." Neo simply waved lazily from the kitchen – mucking about in the fridge, presumably for food – and Jaune walked out the door without another word.

It only took around twenty minutes to walk to the military industrial complex part of Vale's main city – the apartments placed nearby in the event of a Grimm breach of the wall, to help facilitate the young Hunters in coordinating with the military response – along the northern part of the city's innards.

Him walking quickly and predicting crowd behavior also helped him avoid groups that would slow him from walking rapidly – and he happily ignored the curious glances he got for walking at such an abnormal speed, not quite running but certainly not walking. He spent the duration of the trip with his left hand resting on the pommel of his sword, anxious in the deep crowd.

Inside what was colloquially known as the 'military show house' – a plaza meant for displaying new military advancements to the public in a controlled way, which was meant to enforce trust with the military and, due to the omnipresence of Hunters at said ceremonies and shows, Hunters as well – Jaune was mildly annoyed to see a milling crowd of reporters, Hunters interested in new technology, civilian weapon enthusiasts, military personnel – foreign and domestic – and… His friends of RWBY and JNPR.

Of course they would be here – they'd all been present at the testing, Weiss was helping with the debut so Ruby would almost certainly want to go (dragging Yang along as well as Blake) and JNPR would come to satiate Nora's curiosity (inexhaustible energy and boredom) and show support for their leader – and were easily picked out fawning over the kneeling Knightmare beside the stage. Whoever had set up the display – almost certainly Weiss – had it kneeling by the stage with the sword in its left hand, point in the ground much like a knight, and its gun held up by its head like a soldier.

For the most part, the teams were rather calmly standing beside Weiss and talking. The only exceptions really were Ruby (who was fawning over the machine's gun as she had been the day before) and Nora and Ren (the former who was trying to climb the Knightmare and the latter doing his utmost to stop her. Jaune smiled and grimaced at once – resulting in a minor, pained expression that almost made him look as if he had stubbed his toe – at the antics as they made him remember the old life he had. Which invariably linked with seeing Yang, Ruby and Pyrrha and – thanks to his Sharingan – remembering everything they'd done together all at once?

He shook himself slightly, biting back the memories and the tears that – for the first real time since this all began – tried to explode out of him, and forced himself to be calm and suppress the emotions. They were not useful, and thus needed to be discarded. For their good, if not his.

This displayed its arsenal and instilled certain… Airs of power and refinement which made the machine all the more formidable, especially to civilians. It also fully displayed the power it packed for the military personnel to ogle, either in excitement to begin deployment against the Grimm (Vale's personnel) or in anxiety of falling behind another kingdom's technology.

Weiss spotted him quickly, jogging towards him – somehow a dignified action, in spite of all reason dictating it shouldn't be – and he nodded once she was standing in front of him, adjusting the sun glasses to better hide his eyes from view. She smiled at him," Good, you're here. Just go take a seat up on the stage, right beside the Knightmare." She started to walk away, pausing and looking back at him," Oh, and we've designated it as Omega. Your own, personal, machine."

"Why do I get my own?" He asked, following behind her as they made their way around the milling crowd. "Seems like a waste to me."

"It's for promotion purposes. You made the machine, and can pilot it effectively. Shows that it can be picked up by anyone who wants to." She shrugged," Seems odd, but it really does work. Boosts sales for the SDC to have Schnees using new products all the time, and considerably at that."

"I see." He shrugged, looking at the Knightmare – looking at HIS Knightmare – and smiling. Unexpected, but a boon none the less. "Fine by me, I guess."

"Okay." She looked around for a moment calculatingly as he sat in the chair before sitting beside him," So just, um, answer whatever questions they ask. But if they ask something and I tap your foot with mine, say it's non-disclosable for security reasons." He nodded, and she smiled again – genuinely enjoying the event taking place – and made an announcement that he was here and taking questions.

Most were typical, and annoying. About half of these he was unable to answer for information purposes, and what he could was typically involved with such petty things as the color scheme or general design overall – which he had difficulty answering, as he literally stole the ideas from the future designs of the very same machine, down to the name itself.

As he was about to answer a question regarding the reason it wielded a sword – to which he would have answered that it was due to his own favoring of swordsmanship in combat, and the utility of being able to cleave all manner of enemies in two with little effort – a distant explosion could be heard as smoke spiraled into the air near the back of the complex. He instinctively leapt to his feet, sword in hand and looking around for any threats before looking behind him.

Someone was attacking the heart of Vale's military, and only one group had the men to do that: The White Fang. Specifically, the smoke was rising from where Jaune knew the production areas were. And even more specifically, it was where mechanized units were prepped.

Turning, he tossed a look at Weiss and practically snarled," How many of these did they make, and did you tell them?" He demanded, tossing a hand towards the panicking and fleeing crowd.

"W-we have twenty up and running, including this one. The designs were so easy to get running and produce that-"Jaune snarled audibly and incredibly angrily, storming past her and clambering up the Knightmare he had piloted the day before. "What are you doing?"

"Are the Knightmares code-locked?" He asked quietly, pausing only for a moment on the top of the cockpit.

"N-no, we didn't think it would be necessary-"

"The only groups with both the interest and ability to stage an attack to steal my Knightmares are either foreign – making this an aggressive action by a foreign nation – or the White Fang." He glared at the girl, gritting his teeth as the wind caught his coat and gave him quite an impressive visage on top of his Knightmare," I refuse to grant either access to my Knightmares, and the only sure fire way to stop them if they try and pilot one will be another one with a better pilot."

"You're going to destroy the prototypes?!" She practically shrieked at him, and he nodded sadly.

"I'd rather that than have them get their hands on them, and use them to hurt good people." He smacked the hatch's button and the top opened, collapsing outward and flexing away – much like how his shield would collapse, which the design was based off of – admitting his access into it before looking back at the pale girl," Machines can be replaced. People can't, Weiss. I'd rather be known to value the latter over the former."

"I…" She shook her head, nodding sharply at him and frowning deeply as her team and JNPR ran up. "You're right. I'll let the military that will likely respond have your IFF tag so they don't shoot at you. Stop them, and kill those animals."

His perceptive abilities easily allowed him to pick up on Blake's reaction to the word – bow dipping ever so slightly, face and shoulders shrinking in and eyes dilating slightly – and Jaune decided to win some points with both teams and help Weiss get past her bigotry.

So he paused, turning to practically snarl down at her and tossing his glasses away in anger –theatrics, really, meant to intimidate her and enforce his point – and she flinched back even before he spoke," Words like those are why this is happening, Schnee. People treating the Faunus like animals and addressing them as such has led to this. They fight out of pain and desperation, not malice."

"You would try and justify-"

"I am going to go and kill them, because for all the good reasons they have for what they do they are still wrong." He paused, standing on the cusp of his machine and staring down at her with his face covered in shadow and his coat blowing in a breeze, his red eyes boring into all those below him. "There are no right sides in this conflict aside from my own. Because I will do everything I may to end this stupid infighting about something as inane as rabbit ears, hawk eyes or," he purposefully glanced at Blake's stunned face for a moment," cat ears." He didn't wait for a response, dropping into the machine and sealing the cockpit as the engines flared to life and he made his machine rise.

It was time to put on a show and display exactly what happened to those who threatened the innocent under his protection. And every single person here was, to him, under his protection.

**'****WELCOME JAUNE ARC, PLEASE STANDBY FOR LAUNCH IN THREE…TWO…ONE…'**

**'****LAUNCHING KNIGHTMARE!'**


	10. Scrap Metal

**(Neo Politan)**

Neo kept walking as she had prior to the five White Fang soldiers trying to block her advance towards, flicking her sword to rid it of the blood it had accumulated almost solely from their necks – though one had been mildly competent, at least enough to dodge her first attack. She'd used her semblance to teleport behind him – allowing him to smash a mere façade of her instead – and hamstringed his leg, then stabbed him in the stomach and crushed his testicles.

He was still screaming even now, and Neo smiled as she continued on to help Jaune out. Mostly by slaughtering as many Fangs as she possibly could for him, even if she enjoyed it so much.

It was definitely for him. She paused to listen to the screaming for a moment more, closing her eyes to savor it, before shaking her head and continuing down the street. Okay, maybe it was partially for her too, but that didn't matter really. Same ends, after all.

Another White Fang soldier – young man with two bull horns curling down the side of his head – stepped around a building's corner and Neo paused, looking at him with a quirked head. Then she smiled.

She knew this big, burly bastard. He was, genuinely, an asshole and a sexist besides, and had multiple times made passes at her and multiple Fang soldiers. He noticed her too, and laughed in that bass voice of his, the sound rumbling deeply.

"Well, looky here. Finally gonna get down and suck… My…" He trailed off, looking down the street at the slaughtered soldiers and she saw him tense up – he'd never fought anywhere near her, and so never saw HER fight – before tightening his grip on the basic red sword many civilians owned, due to their easy production. "You slaughtered my team, bitch."

'Shame that last guy passed out… Or died… That would have gotten a funny reaction.' She smiled brightly at him, holding her umbrella horizontally in front of her disarmingly – predicting the big bastard's next actions perfectly.

He snarled angrily and rushed her, swinging his sword like a club…

And smashed another façade of her, before she kicked him in the throat and watched him collapse, struggling to catch his breath. She hated this bastard, so she decided to take a minute to get him back for his unwanted advances in the past and his sexism – an unforgivable sin to the petite assassin.

So ten minutes later she walked off, leaving the dying man behind to choke on his own testicles which she had cut off and shoved down his throat. 'How's that for a blowjob, asshole?'

Checking the time, she sighed silently and took off in a sprint. Along the way she ran into other Fang soldiers, and slaughtered these as quickly and efficiently as possible. She didn't need to have any fun with them - after the bull earlier she was satisfied enough.

But she thought it prudent not to be TOO out in the open about it – let Jaune have the lime light – and so she was simply cleaning up. Once she found him, she'd keep him clear of the rabble trying to bring him down once he started fighting.

Should be some fun.

**(RWBY and NPR)**

"No, just focus on evacuating the civilians. Try and keep the Knightmares contained with air power. We have our own headed that way right now." Weiss paused for a minute, standing next to her friends and listening to the officer on the other end. "Yes, I have the IFF code. Knightmare Designation Omega-0001, broadcasting on Atlesian IFF channel 7.5. Do not fire on it, please."

"So what's the plan, guys?" Ruby asked brightly, Crescent Rose's rifle-form in her hands comfortably.

Weiss answered her, sliding the Scroll back into her jacket's pocket as she did so and drawing Myrtenaster," We just help the military response teams get civilians out of the way. For now, we just need to get this group down the street outside and to the units holding the line there. Then we stay there and hold the perimeter until Jaune deals with the Knightmares."

"Why don't we go help him fight?" Yang asked, shrugging in a relaxed way," I mean, it can't be THAT hard to break those robots, right?"

"Yang those machines are… I don't even know HOW he did it, but those things could annihilate us. Easily. They are designed for fast, agile enemies, like us and smaller, faster Grimm." Weiss shook her head warily, watching Jaune stretch his machine several yards away – checking the machine's mechanics before heading out – and sighed," We can't beat the ones out there. Only heavy weapons – heavy enough to take out armored Grimm and armored Atlesian Knights - can destroy them."

"But how can he do it then?" Blake interjected confusedly, watching Ren and Pyrrha trying to coordinate the people there to evacuate them. "I don't see any heavy ballistic cannons or anything on it."

"The Knightmare's weapons and armor are both designed to pierce heavily armored enemies, and the Knightmare is designed to take hits very well. Meaning it can take other Knightmare's out with moderate ease. Assuming, of course, the pilot is competent enough to do it." Ruby explained easily, smiling almost disturbingly happily.

The other four women – Nora still standing with them for now while Ren worked with Pyrrha, those two being the ones more capable of coordinating the group of people – were mildly surprised at Ruby's great knowledge of such high level mechanics. Well, all but Yang were surprised, at least.

They didn't have quite enough time to delve into that though when Pyrrha, accompanied by two Valean military officers in their standard green and red outfits – dark green pants and tank top shirt, long sleeved olive colored over-shirt over the tank-top and a matte black flak jacket with a red beret on their heads and the Valean axe-and-wreath on their shoulders.

The higher ranking one – a commander, denoted by the golden-topped pinned feather in his beret, unlike his companion's blue one, which denoted him as a lieutenant – saluted the Hunters-in-training as was customary before speaking," Everyone is ready to begin the evacuation. My guards will assist in that endeavor," he gestured at the lieutenant – a plain young man with brown hair and eyes and pale skin – and continued," Lieutenant Angarde here will oversee that, with your team's assistance."

"Understood." Ruby said, nodding politely at the salutes. "We're prepared to move whenever you are, sir."

"We're about to begin, actually, but we need one of you to help coordinate with that… Knightmare, was it?" The commander asked, smiling warmly at the younger people around him.

"I'll do that. We're kind of partners in the business centered around them, so I'm the logical choice." Weiss offered, and the man nodded politely at her. She looked back at her team – plus Nora - and bade them a polite farewell, following the man away towards another part of the building.

The lieutenant nodded politely and they set about evacuating the civilians to a safer area, surrounded by men in the non-combat Valean uniform and the Hunters-in-training.

Weiss followed the man – who had introduced himself as 'Commander Hayes' - further into the building to a room with several other men in similar uniforms where they had set up a communications room, likely for the sole purpose of her helping coordinate the fight between the friendly Knightmare and the White Fang. At Hayes' order, she took a seat and put the small headset on her head – mildly annoyed at it messing her hair up – and immediately opened the line to Jaune.

**(Jaune Arc)**

"Jaune, can you hear me?" Jaune grunted in momentary surprise, coming to a stop a few streets over from where the Fang were trying to find a way out of the city – silently thankful for the tall buildings, which allowed him to hide effectively enough from anyone who couldn't use the Knightmares to look for an IFF from another Knightmare.

"Yes, Weiss, what is it?" He answered calmly, inching forward to try and look around the building's corner.

"I'm working with the Valean military to coordinate combat. They're forming a large perimeter, giving you plenty of room to deal with this however you see fit, and civilians are being evacuated. Just try and keep the collateral to a minimum." He nodded, ordering his Omega to draw its blade – it being far more capable of fighting cleanly than just his guns – and she continued talking," You can go ahead whenever you're ready."

Smiling happily, he stepped around the corner and opened up with his nose-gun on the two squads of grunts standing down the street next to the first Knightmare. The rounds easily ripped them apart, tossing chunks of asphalt, cement and bodies into the air. Five seconds after he started firing, there were twenty less people living.

Before the enemy machine could turn and fire on him, he lifted his own rifle and fired two long bursts. The first slammed into its legs and lower body, throwing it off its feet as they were destroyed and grounding it on its back. The second burst tore into the chest and cockpit, and he didn't let up until he was certain the latter was utterly destroyed.

He backpedaled into cover before the two new Knightmares could spot him – likely unfamiliar entirely with the radar features – and was just about to spin from cover to gun down another when one of them shot from around the corner with the sword singing through the air.

Jaune swore audibly, ducking under the swing and slamming his shoulder into the machine to counter. He shoved it away, it slamming onto its back in the center of the street and receiving a fully automatic burst as he took several steps away from the down mech.

Its partner shot past it, using the Landspinners to accelerate and Jaune swore audibly again, several rounds slamming into his chassis before he could disable and destroy the enemy Knightmare. He then turned tail and took off, hiding around the buildings far corner before practically shouting into the microphone," Whoever the fuck is piloting those, they know how to use the Landspinners and the radar. Two jumped me just now using both of them."

"What? How did they- Are you alright?" Weiss asked concernedly, and Jaune opened his mouth to answer when two more enemy Knightmares shot around the corner where the two 'dead' mechs had fallen and a third opened fire from his flank, down the road on his right.

He snarled, shooting forward with his machine and impaling the closest Knightmare through the chest, throwing the 'dead' machine into its companion, tripping its legs and causing it to fall over top of its companion.

He stabbed through its cockpit as well, yanking the blade out and spinning to block the flanker's blade, thankful for his Sharingan helping him keep an eye on his radar. He tilted the blade, aiming to allow it to skate to the side so he could counter, but the enemy Knightmare simply backpedaled away from him. He raised his gun to fire when his machine was tossed bodily to its side by a series of explosions in the building next to him.

Shaped charges that were meant to blast outward, placed along that building specifically for him. Two more mechs joined the flanker on his right and another four wheeled around the other corner of the building. Each one held their rifles two handed minus the one who had flanked him, who held instead two swords – something he only now took note of.

"Weiss, they set a trap for me I need some back up." He grunted, rolling his machine into a kneeling position and opening the outward speaker system," You fuckers only just stole my machines. How are you so good with them already?"

"Our leaders trained a group of us for this and set up this trap for you." A woman's voice, coming from the flanker, who stepped slightly closer to him to speak – likely an act of social habit and nothing more. "Just stay down, our orders are to let you live. Well, assuming you don't force us to kill you."

"Then why even talk to me?" Jaune asked simply, listening to Weiss rattle off orders for the soldiers in the background. "Shouldn't you be leaving?"

"We were told to deliver a message to you if possible. 'Should you try to warp history, I will burn those you hold most dear.' I don't know what that means, before you ask so-"

He didn't let her finish – too pissed off to control himself and try to get more information, as he should have done – and fired his rifle uncaringly at the Knightmares on his right. The woman swore, swinging her swords defensively.

He smashed his machine's shoulder into the blades, pushing the machine into the building before one of the enemy Knightmares unleashed as much fire as they could on him. He grabbed the downed machine, yanking it to his left to shield him from the rounds on that side and continuing to fire on those to his right.

He shot toward the ones on his right with his sword, evading as much incoming fire as he could. He impaled another of the machines and shot past, leaving the sword behind and spinning to shoot the slower mechs in the back while the Landspinners dragged him backwards, away from them – experience far outweighed training when piloting Knightmares, after all, and Jaune didn't care enough about showing his capabilities anymore – and ducked behind another building to check his damage warnings. Mostly superficial damages, aside from some serious problems with his left arm.

So sword fighting was out.

He was about to duck out of cover to attack them when Weiss spoke again," Jaune, the Knightmares are headed away. We think they are trying to get to an evacuation point of some sort. I've marked it on your radar system."

"Got it. On my way." He shot off, keeping a block between them at all times for several blocks while on an intercept course before he slammed into one of them near the rear.

It collapsed to the side, the momentum of Jaune's movement having caved in its arm and cockpit on the left side. His rifle destroyed another one entirely – detonating the Dust power cell inside it like a small bomb – before they could react.

He shot forward into the returning fire they levied at him, slamming into the nearest one and tossing it onto its back before they managed to get a bead on him and damage his own Knightmare. One of their rounds slammed into his leg, managing to destroy the joint, and he collapsed to his side beside the downed Fang Knightmare. Swearing, he grabbed the rifle with his mildly damaged left arm and propped himself up to fire at one of the nearest enemies.

But they had disappeared behind another building, and Jaune could no longer follow. A moment later a large Bullhead – meant for transporting industrial sized equipment and machinery and flanked by a quartet of combat variant Bullheads – shot up into the sky and off, headed out of the city.

That was when he realized the stark absence of foot soldiers for the Fang, which was odd. Until he spotted one of the Fang pilots – from the downed machine behind him – ran past an alley.

Two pale-clothed arms shot out and grabbed her, dragging her down. He watched in morbid fascination as Neo – because those hips and legs were obviously hers, judging by the size, shape and clothing – landed on her stomach. The Fang woman started kicking and Jaune was nearly certain that, had his Knightmare's exterior sound receivers not been damaged, he would have heard screaming.

The kicking lasted about half a minute, and Jaune waited patiently for Neo to… Finish up, as it were. After the legs stopped kicking, Neo flipped off her and looked at his machine – covered in blood along her arms and chest, though he noted her hair and face were immaculately and oddly clean – and waved at him happily.

He waved back with his machine's hand, and she vanished back into the alley without another acknowledgement of him. He shook his head, and opened up his cockpit to get a breath of clean air while he waited for someone to come and get him. He'd gotten most of them by himself, but with a working Knightmare they would be able to deal some major damage. Well, the joke was on them.

Because now, people saw just how strong they were. And the Fang had their own, meaning Knightmares would be needed to fight them as well – which, as he remembered, was why the Paladins had been so heavily produced as well. He couldn't contain the loud, almost manic, laughter that escaped his throat.

Because now? Now he had exactly what he needed to really make a dent in the problems of the world.


	11. The Interview

**(So, I stated this in Fragments as well, but my Beta has had to take a leave for a while for personal reasons – and no, I'm not even mildly perturbed by it, I just thank him for all the help – and now I need a new one. **

**Along with that announcement/request, you guys can have this 'mildly' important chapter. I do so look forward to all your inputs and Reviews. ~ Twisted)**

**(Jaune Arc, Vale News Network Central, a Day Later) **

Jaune smiled politely, dressed in his newly bought and favorite heavy black trench-coat. He'd purchased it earlier that same morning from a store – using money collected off of many of the terrorists' bounties - and was greatly looking forward to customizing it himself later. It looked relatively similar to the one he had procured previously, except this one was moderately thicker and came with a hood attached and the Arc emblem had been stitched onto the back.

The important part was what could not be seen, however. The entirety of the coat was built for combat. It was flame resistant, made of a material that was hard to cut, padded against physical hits from things like hammers or fists and a layer of pleated 'flak' armor protected from bullets and shrapnel.

Underneath that he was wearing a thin black shirt with the Arc emblem his mother had bought him a few months back, before he had left to even go to Beacon. Or even before he started planning it, really, and he'd never really worn it because all clack wasn't his color back then.

His pants looked like average, every-day black denim jeans. But they, much like his coat, had features that couldn't be seen. Hard to burn and cut, these were sufficient protection from any and all blades not being wielded by an exemplar swordsman or enhanced by a Semblance or Dust to make armor practically worthless no matter what he wore.

Leather, fingerless gloves with black-steel backing protected his hands and steel-tipped, black-steel reinforced combat boots protected his feet and shins, looking much like plated shoes from the front, though the back was unarmored.

Lastly, he had purchased a pair of dark-rimmed and grey-lensed sunglasses to hide his eyes, made of metal and glass infused with Dust to protect it from heat, cold and general environmental hazards to such typically delicate items.

Right now he was fully dressed in his new combat attire, sitting in a chair next to Weiss, in the Vale Network News studio and waiting to do an interview about the events the day prior, particularly about the Knightmares and how he had destroyed so many of them virtually by himself.

So, with a bored look on his face, Jaune turned to Weiss and asked, once again," Do we really need to do this?"

"Yes, Arc, for the fifth time we do. Yesterday, you showed off a skilled pilot piloting YOUR machine and prevented the White Fang from securing an entire batch of prototype versions." She shook her head impatiently," Just relax, it'll be over soon anyway."

"It's an interview." Jaune muttered quietly.

"And it won't be a long one, so just relax." She responded immediately, smiling ever so slightly when she saw the interviewer come in. Pointing at the red-haired young woman in the white suit, she added," See, she's here. Just answer her questions."

Jaune grunted in assent, and the woman walked over quickly and smiled," Hello, Mister Arc. Miss Schnee. Pleasure to meet you both, even given yesterday's tragic events."

She was putting on airs, faking sympathy and being bothered by the events to win points with the two younger people. Weiss, trained from a young age to pick up on and ignore such things, noticed and filed her displeasure away. Jaune, using his Sharingan, also picked up on it. He simply didn't care about her petty opinions right now, as he frankly had more important things to do.

"Yes, yesterday was quite the tragedy. Let us hope that my Knightmares can help the military and police prevent another one like it ever occurring again." He answered, politely nodding and watching the cameras flicking on.

The woman ignored him and turned to the camera in her seat – one of only few in the sparsely furnished room, which was typical of studios like this one – before rattling off a quick introduction. "Hello, everyone. As you know, my name is Sandra Crim. And as you probably also know, I have a mister Jaune Arc and Miss Weiss Schnee here with me today, to talk about what happened yesterday and about their invention that saved the day, for the most part. Unfortunately, a pair of the machines did escape. However, they not only eliminated most of their own creations – keeping them safely out of terrorist hands – but also eliminated dozens of incredibly dangerous men and women with large bounties on their heads." She stopped, turning to the duo with a deceptively pleasant smile," Do either of you have anything to say?"

Weiss spoke first, in a polite tone as was the usual for her during such settings," Not much, Sandra. I do wonder how the White Fang managed to even find out about them, and plan such a coordinated attack."

"Those animals probably had a few friends working in the factories or something." Sandra offered snidely, smiling at her own insult. "Besides, you and your partner killed all of the-"

"Call them animals once more and I will remove your head from your shoulders." Jaune interrupted, smiling coldly. "People saying things precisely like what you just said are why what happened yesterday happened."

Sandra seemed shocked at his words, frowning in confusion," Surely you don't support those freaks' actions? YOU killed most of them personally."

"Yes, I did. I don't support the modern White Fang, nor do I support blatant bigotry towards Faunus – like calling them animals, for instance – and I, unlike many, understand that such actions are WHY the Fang is as influential as it is."

"Jaune-"

"No, Weiss. This IS an interview, and she broached the subject, so I am commenting on it." He sat back in his seat and smiled in a faux-friendly way," Now, do you actually have questions for me?"

"I… I would like to know how strong your machine is." She half-muttered, and Jaune nodded easily enough, pretending to ignore the preceding events in spite of the live broadcast.

"Depending on the skill of the pilot involved, I would not recommend engaging it without a Knightmare of your own or heavy armor and air support. Maybe six or seven heavy Atlesian tanks?" Jaune shrugged, smiling innocently and rubbing his chin with one hand relaxedly. "That would also depend on the terrain, of course. But unless you have a severe numbers advantage, plus heavy anti-armor abilities, I would suggest not engaging a Knightmare."

"And how much does one cost to make?" The woman asked, sounding a bit more comfortable as she thought her misspoken words had been ignored now, for the most part.

"The cost of three Atlesian heavy tanks, give or take. Though do bear in mind, a Knightmares outclass those three immensely and totally." Weiss tossed in, sitting forward and smiling as warmly as she could," The entire purpose of it is to be able to go wherever conventional armors cannot and perform better on a five to one ratio." Feeling his Scroll buzz, Jaune – very impolitely, and not giving a shit about it – checked his messages and let the two prattle.

_'__Just so you're perfectly aware of precisely the kind of situation you are in, I traced your Scroll's messages to find out a few things. An associate of mine is on his way to pay your family, well, let's just call it a visit. If you don't behave yourself, we kill your youngest – and last – sister. ~ F.' _

Jaune's eyes widened, and his hands began to tremble. He turned to Weiss – still talking amiably with the interviewer – and politely excused himself, saying he had personal, family business to see to.

As he walked and thought, his scowl deepened in anger and frustration, and he forwarded the message to Neo with an order to get to him so they could go to his old village as soon as possible.

She responded quickly, _'I'll get us a ride and come by to pick you up as soon as possible. Give me fifteen minutes. Also, I have no idea who 'F' is. The initial doesn't ring any bells with me, unfortunately. Sorry. I'll get in touch with some contacts of mine. We'll need a Bullhead however.'_

He responded immediately, brushing his coat aside and resting a hand on Crocea Mors,' _Good. Get here immediately. And yes, get in touch with whoever you can. I'll handle a Bullhead when we get there.'_

Jaune Arc was upset, deeply, at the idea of losing his family once again. And whoever had dared even suggest they would hurt any of them would be left to Neo's… 'Urges'.

Feeling the Scroll vibrate, he checked it. Weiss was calling already, worried for her friend. He smacked the ignore button off-handedly, watching a small black car pull up in front of him with Neo at the wheel, smiling brightly and sympathetically – an odd combination on anyone but her's face – and he climbed in quietly, glaring at the street ahead intensely.

Inside, his mind was racing with thoughts – plans, plots, ideas, suspects and any manner of people who could be 'F' from his old life – and emotions – anger, sorrow, grief, frustration – as the car drove onward.

Neo noticed this and contemplated trying to make him feel better somehow, but in the end she didn't do anything. Jaune wasn't the type to like such actions, instead seeming to be the kind who preferred action and solitude for his emotions. The only thing she offered was a hand on top of his own, gripping the side of his seat tightly.


	12. Losses and Pains

**(Weiss Schnee, Beacon Academy Dormitories)**

"No, I don't know where Jaune went. He said he had business to attend to yesterday, and I haven't seen him since then." Weiss said quietly, looking at Pyrrha curiously," I had thought he came back to your dorm afterwards."

"No he's been gone. And he isn't answering his Scroll either." Ren added, standing in the hallway with the two others.

"Maybe he stayed in town at a hotel or something?" Pyrrha offered simply, popping her neck. "If so, hope he gets back before classes tomorrow or our team will lose more points on top of today."

"I don't think he did. There's not a hotel charge on any of our joint funds and nothing is missing as far as I can see. Though-"

"Attention students and faculty." Ozpin's voice interrupted over the intercom, cutting Weiss off entirely," I regret to announce that, last night, the village of Bol was involved in what appears to be a Grimm attack. Regrettably, the village was destroyed and thus far no survivors have been found. As a result, classes are cancelled for the day and volunteers will be awarded credits for going to help clear the area and search for survivors hiding in the forests. Also, for any students from there, counselling is being made available in the auditorium. That is all."

"A whole village…" Ren sighed, shaking his head sadly," I need to go take care of Nora. She… Won't take this well."

"Yeah, tell her I said I'm sorry." Pyrrha added, looking at Weiss for the first time since the announcement began. The girl seemed to be looking for something in her Scroll – tapping and flicking rapidly – and Pyrrha was hit with a sudden sense of foreboding she had felt few times before. "What's wrong?"

"Gimme a second." Weiss grunted mechanically, turning slightly away from her peer and frowning. "Ah, found it." She blinked and her face became more remorseful, almost pitying.

"What is wrong?" Pyrrha asked concernedly, stepping around her to look down at the Scroll. "Is that… Jaune?"

"Yeah." Weiss sighed, closing the device and sliding it into a pocket," He's… Not from inside any of the Great Cities, he's from outside them. Just a little village out east."

"You don't mean…"

"He was from Bol, originally. And he said he had to take care of something personal when he left. That was right after getting a message of some sort." Weiss muttered, shaking her head depressedly. "You think he…"

"What? Knew something was going on and didn't tell anyone?" Pyrrha shook her head, grimacing in disbelief," No. Even he isn't that self-obsessed."

"True." Weiss sighed, shaking her head and walking away," I'm going to go volunteer to help. My team could use the credits, between Ruby and Yang."

"I'm going too. Jaune might be there, and if so… Maybe I'll get some answers out of him." Pyrrha said, jogging briefly to catch up to the smaller girl before matching step with her.

The two left without speaking to anyone else – minus the coordinators – and were shortly on their way to the ruined village of Bol by the time anyone else was really doing anything to react to the news. Already, Atlesian ships had departed their home city to help with the search and rescue efforts underway.

**(Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long, RWBY Dorm Room)**

"Yang!" Ruby yelled, prodding the sleeping sister," Get up, we gotta go help that village!" She shook the girl several times, sighing when she snored and rolled back over before reaching into a drawer and taking several steps away, a pair of scissors in hand. "You have forced my hand!"

**_~SNIP~_**

Yang shot out of her bed, shooting away from her sister and glaring from the corner angrily," That's cheating!"

"Yep!" She answered spritely, smiling and spinning the scissors around her finger," Had to get you up, though. It's an emergency!"

"A village was destroyed by the Grimm and Ruby wants us to go help the clean-up and search-and-rescue teams work." Blake monotoned, slipping her shorts on and rolling her arms in her typical combat attire," Honestly, I think it's a good idea. They could use help, at least at keeping the Grimm away."

"Which village got hit?" Yang yawned, rifling through her drawers for her own outfit. "How bad was it?"

"Bol village, and Ozpin said that so far no one has been found alive yet at all, hence the call for volunteers to help search the forests nearby. Hopefully a few made it out to the woods and found somewhere to hide." Blake murmured something under her breath, which the other girls ignored – the girl often spoke quietly to herself, and likely wouldn't repeat what she had said in any event – and continued gearing up. Blake started packing a backpack with clothing, water and the like before turning to the other two girls who had obviously never been to a sight like the one they were headed to today," Pack some food, water and a small blanket just in case. Might be in the woods a day or so, especially after what happened there."

"Think it'll be that bad?" Ruby asked quietly, digging under a pile of her clothes in the corner to find her own backpack and watching what Blake herself was packing away, mentally noting everything to mirror it herself.

"I've been to destroyed villages before. Smaller ones, never as big as one of the major ones like Bol." Blake shook her head morosely, had balling into a fist in the pack," Do you know how many people have to have died there for Ozpin to call it a total loss like he did?"

"Dunno how big Bol is. Was." Yang shrugged, pulling a shirt over her head and cracking her neck. "How many people were there?"

"Last I checked, Bol had a population of ten-thousand if you counted the soldiers and Hunstmen there, and at least nine-and-a-half-thousand are guaranteed dead." Yang physically flinched at those words before doing as she tended to, and getting pissed.

"C'mon, let's go girls. I wanna hit something." The other two followed quietly, Blake's words having fully sobered the other two girls sufficiently to silence even the ever-peppy Ruby.

Blake didn't like causing the younger girl that much distress, but it was better she be prepared for what was coming than be happy and suddenly have to deal with the kind of things that they were going to be seeing. When they passed by JNPR's door, her sensitive ears picked up what sounded like very quiet – almost muffled – sobbing, which was almost certainly Nora given that she'd heard both Weiss and Pyrrha leave already and the sound was feminine.

**(Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren, JNPR Dorm)**

Ren sighed tiredly, looking at the ever-so slightly sobbing girl on her own bed across from his own and frowned," You sure you don't wanna go? Someone may have survived."

"No one ever survives, Ren, you know that." She murmured, hiccupping lightly after her sentence," We both know how bad these attacks are. I'm not going."

"Nora, our village was attacked by Goliaths. It takes a lot more than a village like ours could ever handle, especially on our own. Bol had enough defenses to-"

"I'm not going, Ren." She muttered, rolling over," Now please leave me alone."

Ren calmly stopped talking, instead walking over to sit on the edge of her bed patiently. Eventually, as expected, she rolled over and pulled him down to cuddle like a large stuffed bear. Normally, this was reserved for whenever she had a nightmare or something of the like, but Ren felt now to be a good enough time for an exception to that rule.

**(Ozpin Cane and Glynda Goodwitch, Beacon Headmaster's Office)**

"Where is he, Glynda?" Ozpin asked calmly, knuckles whitening on the handle of his cane.

"I don't know, sir." She said quietly, sensing her old friend's anger. "I'm looking right now, but he's not at Beacon or in Vale." She shook her head, checking the trackers and cameras a fifth time.

"…Check whatever tracking sensors we have left in Bol." He ordered tightly, to which Glynda was more than happy to oblige. An irate Ozpin was as rare as it was frightening, and the office reflected why.

Scattered papers, books and folders and chairs thrown around the room – Ozpin did not like the idea of so many deaths, and the sudden disappearance of his most recent 'pet mystery' that he seemed to find and then obsess over every year had only further aggravated him.

Thus the mess.

"Sir, some of our older sensors out there picked up Arc's Scroll, though an exact location isn't quite known yet as he isn't in the city anymore." Ozpin's face paled visibly.

"Where is he?" His voice was deceptively cool and calm, and only those who knew him well enough would register the tension and anxiety in it, or etched into his face.

"I would guess…. The forest... Sir." She said quietly, already knowing his next words before he spoke them – and proceeding to call a Bullhead to the landing pad in preparation for exactly that reason.

"Glynda-"

"Already done, we can leave in ten minutes." Ozpin smiled for the first time that day and walked past her towards the door, stopping to put a hand on her shoulder.

"What ever could I do without you, Glynda." She blushed lightly and followed him, dutifully arranging everything for him as they walked. Ozpin truly meant the compliment, and she understood that well enough.

"Well, I imagine you'd run the school into the ground, and wouldn't be able to function without my coffee in the mornings." He chuckled at her quip, and they walked in an amicable silence the rest of the way, the tension mildly easing out of the man. Only mildly, though, as his knuckles were still white on the head of his cane.

**(Jaune Arc and Neo Politan, Forests near the former village of Bol)**

Jaune yanked his sword free of the dying Beowolf, striding past it with barely a glance over his shoulder to make sure Neo was still following – and breathing – before stopping to watch the next three charge at him in their typical reckless manner.

He easily sidestepped the first, hearing it whimper in pain when Neo's own blade dug into its throat, letting it drop and choke to death while she followed him on his anger inspired semi-crusade into the forests.

The duo had rented a Bullhead with her money and flown straight to his home village, hoping to stop whatever was happening. Jaune had anticipated that his family would be under attack by someone, probably White Fang. What he hadn't anticipated was the burnt rubble that was once his home, Atlesian and Valean search-and-rescue already looking for survivors in the city itself while Hunter teams – the few present – helped deal with any Grimm left over.

The town itself was in ruins, burned and shattered almost beyond recognition. A year back it had been stated it could very well one day become its own Kingdom, where Grimm could not reach the humans within its walls and as such civilians could live with safety. This was because it had, using the Arc name and the small wealth therein, been well enough defended for people to build a rather sturdy defensive wall about a hundred feet tall. Nothing when compared to truly massive walls like Vale's, but especially when coupled with the plateau it rested on it served as enough defense against ninety percent of Grimm threats.

Only something massive, and thus rare, could get to it. The Goliaths which had obliterated the village were among the only things that could destroy the walls along the edges of the plateau where it had been built, but something had irked Jaune massively.

How had the Goliaths gotten to the village without it calling for help, and gotten up onto the plateau itself at all? There was only one way by which it could be approached on land, and the attack had begun on the other side of the entire plateau.

Once the duo had reached his family's property – also destroyed – they'd checked to see how many bodies had been recovered. Thus far, all but his father and his youngest sister had been recovered – which both shattered the boy and gave him a thin thread of hope that the two were still breathing – and then asked which way they likely went.

The soldier had reported the string of lesser Grimm corpses – Beowolves and the like – headed into the forest, and Jaune had immediately made to follow that line. Neo had followed him quietly, understanding his inexorable need to know what had happened to the man and not wanting to cause him any problems to compound with the second time losing his family, this one presumably his own fault.

That had been an hour ago, and they'd been trekking into the woods – following more signs of combat – in a hope of finding the man. Jaune had fought like a machine, tearing through Grimm with ease now he had no cause to conceal the skill forcibly instilled from years of harsh combat.

She was just about to do the unthinkable and actually speak to console him when both of them jerked, hearing the sounds of combat echoing ahead of them. Jaune spoke instead of her," The response teams wouldn't be out this far yet, would they?" She shook her head, and he smiled thinly and took off at a full sprint with her on his heel.

She was the faster of the two, and as such was the first to reach the edge of the large clearing, and was stunned into stillness for a moment. A person on the other side was standing behind a tree, staring as a pack of Beowolves fought a tall man in heavy white mail and plate wielding a massive tower-shield and long-sword, all of which was ornamented with the Arc crest.

Jaune stopped beside her, pulling his shield out to couple with his blade, completing Crocea Mors, and she rolled her eyes when he charge straight into the thick of the fight and simply moved to join him against the pack, easily slitting a young Beowolf's neck and running up another's back to jump into the fray.

Jaune himself used his shield less for defense and more as a battering ram, smacking a 'Wolf away mid-lunge and beheading a second which had lunged for his father's side while Neo flipped, twirled and slashed to her heart's delight, cutting down Grimm after Grimm with barely any effort as was her capability since she so easily out-speeded them, when their only advantage WAS speed in the first place.

Clayton Arc's helmeted head turned to his son, giving him a curt nod and turning back to bisect a charging Beowolf," Son." Jaune merely grunted in answer, ducking under a swipe and lopping off the hind legs of one of the beasts, flowing the swing up and stabbing through another's skull while his father crushed the first, legless, Grimm's head in with his boot.

The fight proceeded much like that, Neo having fun while Jaune and his father worked together to defend themselves from the attackers until the last fell, head rolling to Clayton's feet after being removed by Jaune's blade and the man nodded in approval," You're training goes well, I see. Good, we need to catch up with your sister. She-"

Jaune's small smile was instantly replaced by shock when an arrow sprouted from the eye of his helmet and he collapsed back with a loud clanging of metal, and Jaune snarled in anger and looked behind him, trying to find the archer responsible.

Predictably, he found nothing and Neo – caked in brackish Grimm blood much like the day prior – stepped beside him, shaking her head pityingly. Jaune swore audibly, kneeling beside his newly dead father," Neo, find them if you can." She nearly refused but opted against it, in the end, and took off into the forest to try and find the person she'd seen before. Jaune stayed with the man's corpse, protecting it from Beowolves until the Hunters started getting this far out.

On the outside, he looked calm and cool in spite of everything. On the inside, he was seething anger and hurting immensely – neither of which he would show to anyone – and, if anyone had thought to look or known what they were seeing, they'd have seen his eyes.

Instead of the three commas that had been there, spinning around his pupil lazily regardless of the time of day or whether he was using it, he now had a thick black circle surrounding the edge of it with three thin lines connecting to the pupil. The right spun counter-clockwise and the left spun counter to that.

Silently, he wondered what his father had tried to say. But eventually he resigned himself to it merely having been him telling him which way her kidnappers had gone and let it go.

**(AN)**

**So, here's the new chapter. Kinda bare, but it's just me setting up the next one. SO, any guesses on who the cloaked person was? Who 'F' is? Curious to see. **

**Also, any thoughts on Bol? The word is actually a word in real life. Kinda a thing with me, using random seemingly appropriate languages to make statements. So thoughts?**

**Also, anyone know how to do a poll on my profile? I wanna do one for the Jaune pairing. The four options are Neo (obviously), Yang, Pyrrha and Nora so far, unless someone has a good suggestion and a good rationale behind it (cuz I'll ask), as well as information for other suggested pairings for, well…. Everyone, really. Whatever ideas and reasons for them you got, give 'em here. I kinda work better with some direction, ya know? So having ideas tossed at me will help my chapter quality shoot up again, since I know these are… Lack luster. **

**~ Twisted**


	13. Break

**(AN) So, thus far in the poles for the pairing of the story Ruby is in the lead with Neo right behind, as of now. These two are followed by Blake and then Yang, with no votes for anyone else at all. So, as it stands, I may do some a Ruby ship, or a Neo one, or maybe a combo. I… Dunno how, but whatever. Lol. **

**Then again, there's the chance that people don't know there is a poll so for those who haven't voted, don't worry as it won't matter much THIS chapter. I'm gonna make this a bit emotional as far as chapters go, so any pairing will be viable afterwards. **

**Just, for my readers, be understanding that Jaune has had this happen before. So his reactions and values may seem… Odd to normal people. Just keep in mind, through everything, that his SOLE motivation in life now is preventing all the destruction of his old world from occurring a second time. Thanks.**

**(The Ruined Village of Bol)**

Jaune grunted, lifting the beam and half-tossing, half-dropping it to the side to reveal the small, burnt corpse that at one time had been one of his house servant's child. The Arc family, while not nearly as wealthy as the Schnees or the Ironwoods, had been wealthy enough to fund this attempt at a new Kingdom, and the wealth coming in from the mining of ores inside the plateau had helped that, giving them a substantial fund.

Which resulted in a large home, not quite a mansion yet much larger than average. It was, or rather had been, more of a compound. Small walls surrounding the entire thing, in case of attack. This had backfired when the fires started, wherever that began, and turned it from a defensive home into a crematorium.

Once Neo had returned, unable to find the murderer who killed Jaune's father, the two had hauled the heavy corpse back to the ruins of his home, and he spent the next few hours digging the broken and burnt wood and stone for the bodies of his family and their servants while Neo watched.

She had offered to help, and he'd refused to allow it. This was his job, his duty, not hers. So she waited and watched, sitting on the ruined wall, as he added the small corpse to the rows he'd built up thus far – twenty people long, and five deep so far – and frowned.

He wasn't even upset. No tears, no anger, nothing showing itself at all in any meaningful way. She turned when she heard a group approaching, hand unconsciously going to her sword when she spotted long, golden hair swinging in the breeze before she chuckled silently at herself and hopped down, walking to Jaune where he was kneeling and adjusting the small corpse into a semblance of a peaceful looking manner.

She reached out to tap his shoulder when one of the group of Jaune's friends audibly gasped and alerted him instead, making him turn," Oh. What are you guys doing here?" She winced at the flat, dull tone he was using with them. As though his face wasn't covered in one part soot and two parts ash made up of wood and flesh from his family and home.

The group walked slowly, a redhead approaching him quicker than the others – Pyrrha, Neo remembered – and shaking her head at the devastation," Jaune, I'm so, so sorry."

Jaune looked around flatly and shrugged," It's fine. Not your fault. They all knew the dangers coming out here like this." He walked off a bit, grabbing one of the beams and dragging it towards the group of corpses," Mind helping me gather wood to burn the bodies?"

"How are you so calm?" Ruby muttered, tearing up and looking around at the ruins," So many people…"

"Like I said, they knew the risks with coming outside the safety of the Kingdoms. This has happened so many times before, so I'm not surprised it happened here." Jaune said simply, dragging another piece of wood to the pile.

"But aren't you sad, or even angry?" Ruby pressed stubbornly, looking at him sadly. "I know I am."

"Oh, I'm so pissed off you can't even begin to comprehend it. I barely can." Jaune shrugged, walking over to grab another piece of wood to add to the pile he was building around the bodies," But being upset and venting, it won't fix anything. Better to just shut it down and move on."

"I'm going to go help the soldiers, they could use a hand more than him," Blake grunted, turning and striding right back out the ruined gate she'd just come in through.

"Wait, Blake!" Ruby squeaked, turning to try and stop her only to be grabbed by Yang," Sis?"

"Blake just needs a minute. She doesn't like things like this, so she's upset too. Just let her go and work it out." Yang said simply, letting the smaller girl go and walking up to Jaune. He turned to ask what she wanted, and the girl knelt to heave the piece of wood onto her far stronger shoulders," Come on, Vomit Boy, let's get this taken care of."

"I do not need help, Yang. I can do this by my-"

"Too bad, because we're… Friends, so we're helping." Weiss added primly, pulling her Scroll out and starting to count bodies to check with the Arc family records, to make sure everyone was present. "Pyrrha, come with me. I may need help moving things around."

"Got it, Weiss." The redhead said brightly, ignoring her morose partner and following after the smaller girl while Jaune stared, open-mouthed, at the girls just… Ignoring him entirely and going about their self-assigned tasks. She jogged briefly to catch up to the girl, and they moved off, leaving just Neo, Yang, Jaune and Ruby.

"C'mon, Vomit Boy, tell me what to do with these hunks of wood." Yang barked in a friendly way, smiling at the slightly smaller young man who simply sighed tiredly in defeat and sat down on a piece of rubble a few feet away from the bodies.

"Just stack any still burnable pieces of wood around and between the bodies. If they're burnt black, toss them in that pile over there," he pointed at a section of the wall about fifty feet away where he'd been piling said wood," and if you find another body somewhere, set it with the others."

"Got it boss." She looked at Ruby, who was still on the verge of tears with the destruction around," Hey Rubes, try and cheer mister mopey here up. Okay?"

"Y-yeah. Sure." She said, plopping down next to her first friend and looking at him out of the corner of her eye while Yang trotted along," So, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Ruby. Just a bit tired is all. Been working non-stop trying to… find everyone." He muttered, taking a drink from a small canteen hanging off his waist.

"Mind if I have a drink?" She asked timidly, pointing at the canteen and toying with her cloak uncomfortably. "I-I'm kinda thirsty."

"You don't want any of this. It was my dad's whiskey, took it off his body." He turned to Neo," Could you do me a favor and get us some water?"

She nodded and left, walking quickly through the ruins. She hated running stupid, petty errands like this but if Jaune needed something, it was her place to deliver. Not question or complain, in her mind at least. Though Jaune wouldn't agree with that, which she also knew. She had to serve someone though, and while sometimes that meant more fun things – like slitting throats, torturing prisoners and having sex – other times she just drove, or fetched drinks.

Jaune, unaware of why Neo was so cooperative all the time, looked at Ruby and offered the canteen," Still want a drink?"

"N-no! And you shouldn't drink it either! Alcohol is bad for your health, you know." She admonished, frowning when he laughed at her and took a purposefully long drink.

"Trust me, little Red, I have bigger things to worry about than what some whiskey will do." He joked, smiling thinly," And with what I'm going to be getting into in the next few weeks, this is nothing."

"What are you gonna be doing? Won't you be at the academy, with us?" She asked curiously," Where else is left for you to go?" She blinked after she said that, hands flying to her mouth," I'm sorry, that was stupid!"

"No, it's okay. I'm honestly okay, Ruby. I promise." He smiled in his most reassuring way, and she glared at him until he frowned," What?"

"Don't lie, Jaune. You aren't fine. If you were, you wouldn't be drinking, or joking around like this. You never act that way, so doing it now is proof that you are feeling things." She smiled thinly at him," It's okay to be upset, you know. You don't need to get drunk and play macho."

"What must I do to prove that I am fine, Ruby? Why won't you just-"

"Because I know when someone is hurting, Jaune." She said simply, smiling brightly at him. "I can tell. I'm not good at reading people, not like Yang is. But I can see pain. If it isn't all this," she waved around her at the devastation," then something else is bothering you."

"…Damn you, little Rose." He chuckled, smiling in a slightly less than sober manner, to which she blushed ever-so slightly. "Fine. You got me. This wasn't just a Grimm attack. Someone engineered it and kidnapped my youngest sister as leverage over me."

"Why would they do that? We should go tell the soldiers right-"

"No. No, no one can know." He snapped, just as Neo returned with a trio of bottles," I will have my revenge on the bastards who did this myself. If the military knew it, it would spark a civil war. And that would END Vale." Jaune shot to his feet, and stumbled on the rocks he had been seated on and began to fall.

Neo was quick as ever, and caught him easily. Setting him back on his feet with her right arm, effortlessly as everything she did, and signing at him to calm down before he said something he shouldn't.

"What about your sister?" Ruby asked quietly, standing up sharply and looking at her," Who will help her?"

"She's likely already dead, Ruby. These people… They won't honor an arrangement like that. They took her, but in all likelihood she was a corpse when they did it. If not, she will be soon enough. It's a feint, to cow me into submission." He turned, glaring down at her and she flinched when those red eyes met hers, filled to the brim with anger, pain and hate," I cannot save her, no one can. I will save Vale, no matter what. I will find these monsters and tear them limb from fucking limb!"

"But what if we-" Neo stepped forward, laying a hand on Ruby's shoulder and shaking her head sadly. She frowned, looking back at Jaune who was staring at the pile of bodies," Jaune, we're your friends. Let us help you. Let us in."

'She's right, you know.' Neo signed simply, and Jaune grimaced,' You just refuse to see it because you two were lovers in our last lives. She's still the same as always. Just let it go.'

'Let what go?' He signed back angrily, breathing getting heavier as Yang and Weiss approached, talking to each other with Pyrrha close behind.

"Yourself." Neo said, speaking to him for the first time in their partnership, and speaking for the first time since going silent, in a quiet, weak voice.

Jaune's eyes turned to look at the corpses once again and he sank to his knees, and then fell onto his hands before them. And he wept loudly, screaming in rage and pain, until he could scream no more and had run out of tears and forced himself to his feet in the dark that had descended.

"Yang, burn all of it. Weiss, I am taking my Knightmare out of storage, I have need of it. Neo, you and me are headed to Vale right now. You are to see if you can find out who the fuck did this," he held up a hand to emphasize the next words," and no, I don't care how you do it. Just find out for me."

"W-what are you talking about?" Weiss demanded tiredly while Yang, far more understandingly, started trying to find a good way to light the fires.

Jaune stopped, looking back at her and smiling thinly as he saw Blake – covered in ash and soot with a few tears in her garb, probably from getting snagged on wood – before he spoke," I have to get to work. I hand the rights to the Knightmares to you, keep them specifically to Vale until I find everything out. Oh, and do yourself a favor. When you see a person and your heart races and you can't breathe, don't go to a doctor. Go to them."

"What is that supposed to mean?" She demanded, but Jaune merely ignored her and looked at his partner, Pyrrha.

"I know you think I'm selfish, but hopefully by the end of this you'll realize that… I'm trying the best I can to save everyone." Pyrrha's eyes narrowed but she said nothing, and the duo left, the dark knight leading the assassin.

**(AN)**

**So, there you go. Pushing for Ruby and Neo, since they are winning thus far, but leaving just enough wiggle room to get pretty much anyone you guys pick. **

**So, what did you guys think? How'd it go? I've been told I was incredibly 'clinical' in how I killed off Jaune's family, so was this a bit more on the gritty side of things? **

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed. As usual, please drop a Review with any and all input, tell your friends, worship me like a god- Wait what? Just, uh, ignore that bit! XD**

**Anyway, hope you liked it. That's kinda the point, ya know?**

**~ Twisted**


	14. Leads

**(AN)**

**So the poll has now closed. The pairing is, as of now, with Neopolitan. Sorry to anyone who dislikes that, I tried to be as fair as I could in this endeavor. Hence the whole poll. Kinda like polls, actually, makes things simpler. Would be nice if they sent you alerts though, so I knew when people voted.**

**Anyway, here is the next chapter. Slightly delayed as I was waiting for as many poll votes as possible, so sorry about that. So enjoy. **

**As always, please drop a Review with any and all input. I use it in my decision making processes, and a high Review count attracts more readers. So doing it lets you give me ideas and input, and lets more people do that. **

**Also, if you have ideas for a story don't hesitate to message me with it. If I know the universe, I might just adopt it once I finish a story I have running, or may even add it to the rotations if I absolutely adore the idea. In either case, I'll desire your aid in doing it so bear that in mind, or I may fuck it up.**

**Also, any other pairing suggestions would be most welcome. I don't know what to do with anyone else. I mean, I literally have no idea sometimes what to do. XD**

**~ Twisted **

**(Jaune and Neo's Vale Apartment, One Week Later)**

"So they're in Mountain Glenn?" Neo nodded at his question, and he smiled grimly. "I see. Do you know who is behind it, or just the location of the goons who set everything up?" Neo held up two fingers to indicate the second choice, lounging on the couch and smiling at him sadly. "Good. When we hit it, make absolutely sure that the leaders survive. You can do with the others whatever you want."

'You certainly know how to treat a girl.' She signed airily, kicking her feet up on the arm of the couch and yawning,' Least you make up for keeping me out all night, digging up information.'

"I'd say I'm sorry, but you are basically living off my money at this point and I needed the information. So, I'm really not sorry. That said, you can take some money to get something to drink if you want." Neo shot up in her seat, a massive smile on her face, and grabbed the two-hundred lien out of his hand greedily, which induced a chuckle in him," Get some more cash out of my bank account as well on your way back, and bring me some whiskey."

She stopped lacing up her boot and looked at him, leaning over the coffee table in the chair he'd pulled up, and frowned,' You gonna be okay by yourself for a while?'

"I'll be fine, Neo." Jaune said quietly, leaning back in his seat and rubbing his eyes underneath his glasses. She gave him a look and he chuckled lightly," Okay, I'll be fine until you get back at least. You really going to pass on some beer for free right now?"

'If you need me to, yes. You don't seem to get how I live. Your goals are mine, as are your desires and needs.' She shrugged, smiling in a disarming way,' It's just how I am.'

"That's… I don't wanna be hurtful, but it's kind of sad. What about you?" Jaune asked simply, looking at her with slowly spinning red eyes.

'Doesn't matter.' She smiled and finished her boot's laces,' We both have things to do here. No time to worry about this unproductive line of thinking.'

"I… You're right. I'm going to call Weiss, have her get Omega prepped for combat. Then I'm going to get us a transport capable Bullhead. You can fly it right?" She shook her head no, and he nodded," Right, I'll need a pilot too then." Neo sighed silently and turned, headed for the door when he spoke again," You spoke to me, back at Bol. I know how much that means, so thank you. You have a nice voice." She blushed lightly, turning to look at him leaning over the planning table again and then she left, heels clicking on the landing outside as she went.

Jaune flicked his fingers across his Scroll laying on the table in front of him and called Weiss, who true to form answered on the third ring," Jaune? Where the hell have you been? It's been a week."

"I've been digging for answers. You should know, Neo found a guy who said the White Fang was behind what happened at Bol. We found their base, and we're going to hit it. Hard." Weiss was quiet for a few minutes, and Jaune smiled when he heard her tired sigh.

"Fine. I can have Omega ready for combat by the morning, and I assume you need transport so I'll arrange that as well. You should notify the Vale military if it's inside their jurisdiction, you could use the help and they have Knightmares as well now." She was rather good at predicting things, he had to give her that much at the very least.

"No one has jurisdiction except me, Weiss. Not over these bastards. Vale has laws and policies in place that would stop me doing what I must." He shook his head, even though she couldn't see him on an audio-only call like this," I do need the transport though, and pack extra ammunition. I'll need it where I'm going."

"Jaune, why are you such a stubborn, pig-headed-"

"Weiss, I need to break these bastards into giving me information that the person who imparted to them will likely kill for. We are at war with someone who wiped out thousands and thousands of people just to prove a point to me, personally." He snarled the last, anger lashing out of his control for a moment," I will bleed them. Me. Not some faceless soldier or nameless Knightmare."

"Jaune… Is this justice, or your revenge?" Weiss asked quietly, and he laughed on his end.

"Right now, they are one and the same. Justice and revenge demand blood for what was done at Bol. You know it, and I know it, so let it happen. Neo and I will be there in the morning to get this started, thanks for everything." He hung up before she could respond, standing up an walking into the kitchen to prepare dinner. Neo was a splendid fighter and interrogator, but she wasn't as good of a cook as he was.

So by the time she returned half an hour later, he was well under way cooking the two of them a relatively nice dinner. Well, as nice as pizzas were. But he liked it, and she didn't care, so it was a neutral proposition to make.

When she returned, they would have a relatively nice meal and hit the hay early. Tomorrow would need rested minds and bodies, after all, so sleep was highly necessary.

**(Beacon Academy)**

"He hung up on me! Who does that red-eyed, vomit spewing buffoon think he is?" Weiss practically screamed, slamming the door to their dorm shut and walking to her bed. With the utter loss of Bol, and everyone there, almost every team had someone who had lost family and as such classes were still off, so everyone was lounging in their dorm today, waiting for word on the following week before thinking up something to do for the weekend.

"He just lost everyone, Weiss. Imagine if you got a call right now that every single member of your family was gone, and your company ruined." Yang grumbled sleepily, curling up on her bed," Now shut up, I'm tired from training."

"It isn't her fault you insisted we train all day, Yang." Blake muttered, turning a page in her book quietly.

"Blake is right, you brute. You should pace yourself more properly next time, instead of burning out like that." Weiss scolded lightly, annoying the larger blonde.

"What'd Jaune want, Weiss?" Ruby asked timidly, still mildly depressed after returning from the gritty, rough work in Bol. They'd spent two days helping protect search parties and keep the Grimm away from the ruins. "And is he okay?"

"He's playing the hero, and he seems okay. He and that girl are going to attack the ones they think did it." She said informatively, sitting down at her favored desk primly.

"What do you mean 'who did it', Weiss? It was just the Grimm, right?" Yang asked, sitting up on her bed, fatigue forgotten entirely for the moment.

"Think about it. The attack started, by all reports, on the side of the village that had a massive cliff. How could a Goliath get there? And no one sent out a distress signal either. Clearly, at the very, very least, there was some sabotage at work there." Blake said quietly, looking at her partner evenly. "He's after whoever let the Grimm into the village, which is the most likely event. The Vale military likely knows that much just as well."

"Why would someone do that!" Ruby half-screamed, pulling her knees to her chest. "The Grimm are all evil. Who would ever, ever help them?"

"Yes, but some people just don't get that. He says they're White Fang, so I'm not surprised. They've been nothing but a nuisance for years. Figures they'd do something like this." Weiss grumbled, and Blake bit her cheek to keep silent at the statements.

"Every group has bad members in it, Weiss. Humans, Faunus, Hunters, police. White Fang and everyone else. It doesn't really matter, you'll find bad people in every batch of people you look." Ruby said sagely, smiling grimly at her," So we have to stop them from hurting people. Making broad judgements of the people we're supposed to protect isn't our job. Those people were bad, but not every White Fang member is like that."

"And how would you know what those animals are like? Say whatever you want about the Faunus, the White Fang are vile, nasty beings." Weiss countered coolly, smiling in a self-satisfied manner.

"We have a friend who was in the White Fang. Still is, in fact. A Doe. She advocates for peace, not violence, and doesn't participate in any of their violence." Yang informed her, before plopping back onto the bed," She joined after a mob attacked her house and killed her parents, so try not to judge people so much, princess."

"That…" She huffed lightly, and resumed studying her textbooks, until she could think of something to say. Blake shot her partner a grateful, if purposefully hidden, look before returning to her own book and Yang quickly conked out.

Across the hall, JNPR was having a rather bad time as well. Or, what was left with Jaune still off doing his own business.

"I don't understand him. He's so focused on his own goals. Obsessed, like he's working towards something specific with a very, very good reason. But he's also so…" Pyrrha trailed off, making a rotating motion with her hand while she looked for the right words.

"Cold?" Ren offered simply, watching Nora jump between her bed and her leader's. "I don't understand it, myself. But something changed in him in the woods during initiation. You don't see it, but… Whenever he sees us, or even speaks to us, I sense this hurt in him. Like our mere presences cause him anguish on a scale I can't understand. It causes me great confusion."

"I think we should just tie him down when we see him next and MAKE him talk!" Nora offered in her usual brash manner, smiling at Ren who seemed to think for a moment.

"Actually, we should just ask him. Though, Nora, we won't be tying him down." The girl pouted at her friend, hands hanging by her side in defeat and a long brown rope dangling from the left one.

"But Reeeeeen, I already have the rope." She whined comicly, and Pyrrha couldn't quite prevent the chuckle that escaped her lips at the sight and sound.

"Maybe you could use it and a blanket to make Magnhild a hammock to rest in?" Pyrrha offered quietly, hoping to cheer up the chipper girl.

What ensued was a chaotic evening of the three of them trying to pin the rope, several blankets, a pillow and a large teddy bear which Nora said was the hammer's favorite toy to the door. This eventually worked, somehow.

**(Beacon Academy Headmaster's Office)**

"No, he won't respond to any of our messages. I don't understand why he won't, but he won't." Glynda said tiredly, sitting at Ozpin's desk.

"Send him another message, please. Tell him that if he doesn't respond soon, I will take matters into my own hands and find out myself." Ozpin clicked his tongue when a thought struck him," On second thought, tell him I am already doing so. I need to visit someone."

"Who?" Glynda asked, but he elected to ignore her and strode into the elevator before smiling lightly at her as she called his name once more, more urgently.

He didn't answer until the door was shut and he was well on his way down, though he knew she was likely already watching the security feed," To see the one at the center of all of this, after all. That IS the best, most logical, answer on which course to take."


	15. King of the Mountain Pt I

**So, I do apologize for the delay. School has been hellish as of late, and I also had to transfer all my documents and files to a brand new computer at long last. Unfortunately, I do not possess Microsoft Word on this computer. As a result, I may have a spelling mistake slip through here and there. Apologies for that annoyance, I'll work on it. If anyone knows how auto-correct works on Google Docs, please message me forthwith. You'll get a shout-out if it works out. Wink wink, nudge nudge.**

**Now, this chapter will be a bit on the heavy side and I can't actually limit my word count as usual, so it could be incredibly long or a bit short. Apologies again. **

**Now then, warnings for this next set of chapters. This set will feature a lot of dying and killing (mostly by Grimm, but the key word there is mostly) as well as Ozpin being Ozpin, Neo being Neo and Jaune being the temporarily angsty thing that is Jaune. **

**Now, I have received what amounts to 'oh dear gods, please do not make Jaune an angsty piece of shit'. And as such I am addressing that right now. Jaune WILL be an angsty cunt, for a little bit. He went through a LOT and just lost his family again, after thinking he could protect them. You don't shrug loss like that off, trust me on that note. He won't be angsty and depressive forever, nor will he stay so bitter and angry as you saw with Weiss. **

**In summary, to those concerned with the direction I know you may have thought I was going with him, don't fret. It's merely a process of characterization and character growth, meant to make him seem more realistic. I personally despise stories where characters just ignore such apparently beneath them things as psychology and realism. Just kind of a thing with me, apologies for causing concern. **

**As always, please toss me whatever input and suggestions/requests any of you have. At worst, you may help another story eventually. For example, Knightmares even existing in this story in any respect is because when I mentioned the Atlesian Paladin mechs in Of Dusts and Darkness, someone mentioned that they thought that was a Knightmare I had tossed in. In other words, a key aspect of this story is drawn from what a review mentioned. **

**I also take idea suggestions and requests for stories themselves. Just remind me whenever I finish a story and I'll start a new one, if I like the idea and am familiar enough with the material. **

**~ Twisted**

**Peering into the Dark Abyss**

Vale had many depots like the one he was currently standing in. They were useful for storing supplies and for quickly loading and launching Bullheads to respond to various village's distress signals should the need arise. He had no idea how Weiss had managed to get them one reserved like this, but he was glad for it. Until he had spotted the unwelcome guest waiting for him, standing just past the door with his cane held in front of him in an almost knightly way, tip pressing against the ground.

Jaune sighed, looking at Ozpin standing in front of his Bullhead with a light glare," What is it, Ozpin? Can't you see I'm about to leave?" Jaune was worried and confused. Why was Ozpin here?

"Just curious about a few things. Things you are going to clear up for me." he gestured with his cane towards the Bullhead behind him, the larger variant's ramp lowered and leaving the black-painted Omega visible to anyone in the large landing zone. "I understand you are headed to eliminate those who destroyed your home village. So shall we get underway?"

He spotted Neo standing behind Ozpin, and very nearly signalled her to incapacitate him so they could leave. But thought better of it in the end, when Ozpin smiled in a knowing fashion at him and Jaune felt a strange threat from him in the gesture. "Neo, would you kindly grab Ozpin a pack of food. He's going to give us a hand with the operation."

She gave Ozpin a look before shrugging and walking past him, brushing by his shoulder as he walked past her and Ozpin, who spoke quietly to him," So, where are we headed to?"

"Mountain Glenn. The White Fang is there, and I aim to kill every single one of them. They were responsible for the destruction of Bol, and we are going to find out what exactly happened and who ordered it." Jaune shrugged simply, walking over to where Omega was lying on the bottom of the craft, covered in a massive brown cloth. "If you've a problem with that sort of venture, feel free to stay here. I assure you, I'll answer whatever questions possible once I return, so-"

"You forged your transcripts, risking your life to get into Beacon. Yet now you've sent me your resignation forms." Ozpin smiled, cutting Jaune off entirely," Oh, and do understand that I have to deal with politicians, so don't think you can coerce me so easily into staying behind. We both know you'll vanish rather than answer my questions."

'I could kill him while we're out there. No one would find him.' Neo signed calmly, setting the extra pack of provisions on the floor of the craft and plopping into a seat beside Jaune, within reach of her umbrella-blade if he gave the word.

"Also, as a note, I know sign language quite well." Ozpin laughed lightly, smiling warmly at the two," Honestly, just answer my questions. That is all I want. Depending on the answers themselves, I may be an ally to you. So such threats, empty and meaningless as they truly are, are unneeded."

"You could likely defeat me, at the very least. Neo, however, is an unparallelled combatant so far as I have seen. She should be capable of giving you a run for your money, if it ever came to that," Jaune waved his hand dismissively," But on the note you brought up, I doubt you'd believe a word we said."

"Try me." Ozpin said quietly, smiling warmly at the duo. "You'd be surprised the things I'll believe, if they make sense. So explain it to me, and I may very well ally myself with you should your goals be of a positive sort."

"What do you think Neo?" Jaune asked, turning to look at the girl who merely raised an eyebrow in response. "Oh don't give me that look, damn it, it's just a simple question."

'Do as you will. If he causes us problems, I'll kill him. Or try to, at the very least. I don't much care either way." She yawned, laying out across the seats comfortably.

"Is she always like this?" Ozpin asked quietly, eyebrow raised in amusement.

"Unless she has someone to kill or torture for me? Yes, she is. She's fucking insane, for certain, but absolutely loyal as well." He gave her an appreciative nod before sliding into a seat by her feet. "I trust her almost implicitly."

"Almost?" Ozpin asked curiously, watching the large ramp slowly raise while the pilot no doubt ran through his final flight checks.

"I don't fully trust anyone, Ozpin. Not you, not Neo, not even my team. Just kind of… Developed that. Distrusting things and people leads to not dying, in my experience." Jaune smiled at Ozpin's frown, having known he would be disatisfied from the start of the conversation. "I said I would answer your questions, not that you'd like said answers. So ask your questions, and I will answer them. Though you may dislike those answers entirely. Proceed with that knowledge."

"I see… That is fair, I suppose. Very well then, I would very much like to start with how you invented such vastly advanced war machines, when even Atlas lacks such technology." Ozpin's question didn't surprise Jaune overmuch, as it was even to him a very obvious thing to wonder.

"Well… That is a good question, but it requires a long, long story. One you likely won't believe in any manner, though it does explain how I know, for example, that Yang's mother's name is Raven Branwen, and she is in fact not dead but is instead on a mission to infiltrate the White Fang." Ozpin very nearly dropped his cane, eyes widened at the simple statement, and Jaune took some humor from it. "So you tell me, what could explain a rapid change in personality, a sudden increase in skill sets, a complete change of priorities and access to incredibly advanced and secretive information?"

"... Interesting indeed. You are correct about Raven, and likely understand why I would request that you would keep that to yourself." Ozpin smiled widely, leaning back in his seat comfortably," So, how bad was your future that you would become so jaded and hard towards the world?"

"Bad enough that Neo here defected in this timeline to me, instead of helping Roman and the White Fang ruin everything. When I died, at least, Vale was practically fallen to ruin and most of my friends and family had died." He frowned at the thought of his old life, reaching into his padded coat's pocket and withdrew his father's flask, taking a quick sip. "Gotta say, you're pretty calm."

'Yeah. You're way too accepting of this stuff, old man.' Neo signed, eyebrow raised in curiosity and a hand reaching out to demand Jaune share the bitter contents of the flask, which he begrudgingly did after a second of hesitation.

"In my line of work, one learns to accept what evidence shows, not reject it. I can't think of any other answer to him possessing the knowledge he does. Well, none that change your information being accurate and demanding action, in any event." Ozpin shrugged simply, smile gone entirely as he grew serious," So, what do you need from me?"

"So you're with us then?" Jaune asked quietly, to confirm.

"If it will save Vale from destruction, I will do whatever may be necessary." He said back simply, and Jaune couldn't help the satisfied smile that came to his face.

"Well, that is interesting to know indeed. Glad I didn't have Neo try and kill you," Jaune half-joked, smiling thinly at the elder Hunter. "As for what I need…. I have money and my Knightmare, giving me sway among the wealthy and the military. I could very much use someone with political ties and ties to Huntsmen, such as you."

"And you'll have it. I'll start pulling strings to get your name out there as soon as we return." Jaune nodded, opening his mouth to speak when the pilot notified them that he was about to be passing over the location Jaune intended to drop in on the White Fang at. Which was literal, not figurative, as Jaune fully intended to drop on top of them in his Knightmare.

"Neo, Ozpin, it's time to bleed some bastards. Ozpin, feel free to stay on the Bullhead and wait if you dislike killing humans instead of Grimm. Neo, you know your role." The girl nodded, running up the half-opened ramp at the back of the cargo carrier before dropping out of sight while Jaune prepared the Knightmare for the full attack.


	16. King of the Mountain Pt II

**So, normally I work my stories in a cyclical method but for this I decided that, since two of them are at a pivotal point, I should get over the hump on Abyss and Fragments before even touching Riflemen again or KoK. Also, this chapter may or may not be rather long, hence the short preamble chapter I put up the other day. Kind of a balancing thing, you know? I don't normally do really long chapters because I don't want to put people off. That said, Google Docs doesn't count words so I limit the page count. Still adjusting. **

**That said, still no word counts on Google Docs so I can't gauge length. Anyways, enjoy. **

**(Jaune Arc, Cargo Bullhead circling Mountain Glenn)**

"Neo, Omega is ready to go. Do you have a timeframe on when you'll have everything in position?" He asked quietly, sitting inside the armored cockpit of his Knightmare frame, arms crossed and glaring at the text-screen his partner was using to communicate.

'In position now, Jaune. All charges are set, you can trigger them as soon as you land. They've spotted you, by the way, so if you wait a minute my side of the ruins should be mostly empty of troops.' She sent back, and Jaune simply grunted as he punched in the commands to activate the machine's processes.

"Ozpin, if you aren't coming get in the pilot's area. You'll be safer from the exhaust this thing is about to spit out. Gonna be really hot in the passenger's area." He saw the older man nod through the external cameras, and waited until he had done as asked to start moving. "Pilot, on my mark I want you to angle sharply upward for a moment. Once you see me falling, retreat to a safe distance."

"Copy. Orienting to put you on an angle to land you on the road, sir. Ready on your mark." Jaune smiled at the pilot's words. She was hand-picked by Weiss, having lost someone in Bol as well.

She wouldn't question anything he did here, which was exactly what he had needed. "Mark." He muttered, feeling the craft sharply tilt upwards, allowing him to slide out the back ramp.

Then he fell the hundred or so feet towards the old city, sword gripped in his machine's offhand tightly. As soon as he reached building level, he slammed it into the nearest ruined scraper to slow his descent. The rain of rubble served as an adequate defense against the people on the ground's attacks as well, though even the missiles likely couldn't do any real damage. Infantry anti-tank weapons posed little threat to a Knightmare unless you knew where to aim.

Finally, thirty seconds after leaving the Bullhead, he slammed into the paved ground of Mountain Glenn. The forced of the landing, in spite of his preparations and slowed descent, jarred him in his seat and threw the Omega to its knee. Jaune recovered quickly, using the chance to impart a little terror in the terrorists - an ironic sentiment he quite enjoyed - by planting the tip of his sword in the cement and turning the its head up to 'glare' at them.

The effect was as immediate as it was humorous, the Faunus staring up at him from behind their own masks in shock, rifles, launchers and stupidly enough even swords gripped loosely in shaking hands. An older looking man with ram horns, the left horn broken in half, was the first to recover and lifted his launcher to fire the second missile.

Jaune gunned him down easily with the nose-mounted gun, not even rising yet, and smiled when the dozen Faunus started backing away in panic before finally rising, raising his Knightmare's rifle to point at the sky, perpendicular to his machine's armored shoulder and activating the outward microphone systems." Your organization committed mass murder a few days ago, in a village named Bol. No mercy was offered there, so expect none from me." Then he pressed a button on his Scroll inside the cockpit, detonating the charges Neo had placed in the buildings along the opposite side of the previously deserted settlement, collapsing them off the side of the area, effectively forming stairs for the Grimm that lived in the wilds around there. "Just so you are aware, that sound was the charges my partner placed along the opposite perimeter collapsing the buildings and allowing the Grimm to get into the city. Much like you did to my village. Also like that, no one is leaving here without my permission."

The Grunts did one of two things then, either running from him or opening fire on his machine with whatever weapon they held. He smiled thinly, listening to the bullets pinging off his armor for half a second before once again opening fire with his nose-gun, this time fanning it around to catch the line of people still trying to fight him.

"Neo, how long do you need me to keep their attention on my end?" He asked simply, deploying his land-spinners and driving deeper into the settlement, gunning down anything that moved easily with the nose-gun and rifle.

'Not long. Five or ten minutes and I'll have whoever is in charge here. They'll have the information we need. Be careful, I saw one of the stolen Knightmares in storage. Too many people so I couldn't sabotage it.' She sent back, and he chuckled when he saw the very machine she'd mentioned swerve around a building down the street, sword gripped tightly in its hands.

"Yep, it's out here." He brought his machine to a stop, looking at the customised machine with a mild distaste. Painted stark white with the practically patented White Fang symbol on its chest and back, "I'll handle it. Get to whoever is in charge and get out of Mountain Glenn before you radio for evac. Kill anyone and everyone who sees you, I want anyone who comes to investigate to think they all died."

'Got it.'

He closed his connection, and opened the exterior microphone again," You are in my Knightmare. Surrender it to me, and I might consider letting you run from the Grimm."

"Go to hell, you son of a whore!" The female pilot yelled, shooting towards him on her land-spinners and swinging the sword in both hands. He easily blocked it with his own, sweeping the enemy machine's legs out from under it.

"Did you really think that would work? A novice can't beat me now that I've gotten some practice in, especially not with an obvious charge." He watched the machine struggle, the pilot not knowing how to easily rise from a position lying on its back which was a mildly difficult endeavor for those not experienced in piloting.

"No, I did not." Jaune's eyes widened when he caught movement out of the corner of his eyes, only having the half-second to react that he had thanks to his eyes and ducked underneath the rounds being fired by the trio of Paladins down the street.

He raised his rifle and opened fire, destroying the one on the left before the Knightmare below him swung her sword upward, aiming to lop the hand off entirely. He instead severed her machine's arm, backpedaling and firing to escape the admittedly rather well executed trap.

But Knightmares were entirely better than the Paladins, and he easily evaded their attacks and destroyed them with his own rifle. The other Knightmare was only just rolling over to its stomach when the last Paladin fell, and Jaune smirked when he saw a message from Neo.

'I captured Emerald. Whoever was in charge isn't here, bad timing I guess. She should know who it was though.' Jaune's smirk fell into a grimace and he sighed, opening the audio channel.

"Good work, are the Grimm causing a problem? They sent Paladins after me, but no other infantry, so I'm guessing they're all fighting them." He paused for a moment, watching the other KNightmare struggle to rise for a moment.

'Some of them are evacuating, I think. Three Bullheads just launched, headed away from the fighting.'

"Understood." He turned, looking up and indeed saw three Bullheads pass over him. He quickly slammed the sword into the ground and gripped his rifle in both hands, aiming for the flying craft.

"No, don't do that-" He ignored the other pilot's words, opening fire and easily destroying the flying machines which fell towards the earth, consumed by flames and smoke. "Dust…"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Looks like your friends had an accident." He sneered, turning back towards her. She tried to shoot towards him, and he let loose a torrent of rounds that tore through the machine's chest and cockpit easily. "Idiot, that never would have worked. Neo, I'm headed to the exfil. You good on your end?"

'Yep. already there, waiting on you.' He nodded at the message, and continued to roll towards the location that was just up the road. 'I had fun. how about you?'

"I wish they'd fought back more, but we've done some good work here. Glad you enjoyed your end though." He smiled when he looked up and saw the cargo Bullhead coming in to land. It took a couple minutes to pack the Bullhead up, but once it was done he returned to the seat he'd previously occupied, and looked at the bloodied Neo and tied-up Emerald, smiling warmly. "Hey there, Green. What's the matter?"

"You attacked my friends and kidnapped me." She muttered, glaring at him.

"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot about your other friends." Jaune said quietly, pulling out his Scroll and pressing another button. "Pilot, get us as far from here as possible as fast as possible."

"What did you just do?" Emerald asked quietly, and Jaune gave a nod to Ozpin before answering.

"Well, my partner here planted extra charges to collapse the top level of Mountain Glenn along with the first few. These should make sure no one escapes rather well." Jaune said informatively, while Neo smiled widely and stretched comfortably in her spot, lying across the seats with her feet in Jaune's lap.

"No! Why would you do that?" She screamed angrily, Ozpin silently agreeing with the sentiment.

"Because they did exactly the same to my home. They let the Grimm in and let them slaughter every one of them. There was no mercy there, and there is none here. Neo, shut her up for me." He growled, and the girl flipped off her seat, spinning on her hand to kick her in the jaw, knocking her unconscious.

"She's got a minorly valid point. Is such brutality truly necessary?" Ozpin asked simply, watching Neo return to her spot with her legs on Jaune's lap, where she closed her eyes for a nap. "What do such actions really teach, in the end?"

"Ozpin, this is the only time I will say I don't want input. I have lost my family twice thanks to these bastards. I understand you have disagreements with how I am treating them, and once I have who did it this time I will hear them and likely obey them." He looked at Ozpin evenly, smiling ever so slightly," I have a good deal of respect for you, Ozpin. But this is personal."

"I see." he paused for several long seconds, thinking. "I suppose that is acceptable. Then seeing as you respect my opinion, will you respect the one that says you should tell your friends about your situation?"

"And how do you expect me to get them to even believe me?" He asked quietly, eyebrow raising in curiosity.

"I will back you on it, stating to them the same reasons I gave you." He said simply, smiling at the young man's openness to the base idea, at the very least. "I doubt they wouldn't believe me and you, especially when I confront them with the logic and evidence. I merely wish for you to have a better time in this time, especially with the efforts you seem to be expending to protect my world."

Jaune nodded, anxiety starting to build up at the idea, and leaned back with his flask in his hand," Then I suppose it best I tell you everything about me. So you can understand this, and trust me and maybe even offer some input on the events that transpired."

The rest of the flight was spent with Jaune telling his story, the older man listening intently and quietly to it. It was, after all, a long story to tell.


	17. King of the Mountain Pt III

**And this is the final chapter in the arc of Jaune's revenge. Warning, Neo is going to interrogate Emerald in this chapter. Neo is a sadist in this story, so you can imagine how that will be. It is the first section of this chapter so you could easily skim down until it's over, and I do apologize for it but I feel it necessary for some… Characterization on both Neo and Jaune's parts. So, sorry about that, but this has been a rather grim (damn it Barb) story from the start. This is the end of the darkest arc, arguably, thus far however and I have one more major arc in before I end the story (maybe, depending on if what I wish to do pans out properly). **

**Also, guys, I just rewatched Code Geass once again. If ANYONE here has not seen it, go watch it. Don't even read my chapter first, just go watch it through. My all time favorite anime, with probably THE single best anime ending I have ever had the great honor to see. All hail Lelouch!**

**Now, I am going to repeat, TORTURE SCENE AHEAD MOTHERFUCKERS. Don't read it if you've a weak constitution or qualms with it, trust me I know the feeling (gods I hated writing this), but it's needed for reasons you will soon see.**

**Anyways, here it is. Next chapter, teams RWBY and JNPR will both find out EVERYTHING, and react to it. **

**(Ozpin's Private Estate, Eastern Vale)**

"You're sure this is the only way to proceed?" It had been two days since Jaune and Neo utterly destroyed the ruins of Mountain Glenn, and so far as anyone knew not a soul had left aside from the four in his Bullhead. In that time, Emerald had held, easily, against Ozpin's gentle style of questioning, continually asserting that she knew nothing about who had order Bol. "Such brutality isn't something you should be so willing to throw out."

"Ozpin, this is the only way left to us. How long until the perpetrator realizes I have her and comes to silence her? Or worse, attacks another village?" Jaune raised an eyebrow, reaching up to remove his sunglasses and allow his slowly spinning crimson eyes to bore into the other man. "I for one refuse to allow such an incident, regardless of what I must do to stop it."

"I see… I can't claim not to have done horrible things for the same reasons in the past. I merely hope that you do not come to regret them as I have." Ozpin sighed lightly, turning to walk away from Jaune and the silent guardian at his side," The estate is yours for as long as you need it to do this. My staff has left and no one can hear from outside it."

Jaune nodded calmly, sliding his sunglasses into a breast pocket - the dark red eyes useful for intimidation - and watching the old man walk away, waiting so he could leave before they did what needed to be done. He sighed after a couple minutes, before nodding to himself and turning to walk into the cellar door, Neo close on his heels.

Inside Emerald was firmly strapped to a simple metal chair, glaring defiantly at the duo when they entered. Hard Seer-Steel metal clasps held her upper arms and legs each to the chair, and a wide one across her stomach left her entirely immobile in the chair. Jaune smiled faux-warmly, grabbing a chair by the door and spinning it before sitting in it in front of the closed door with his arms resting on the back.

"Good day, dear lady. I understand you haven't been very cooperative with your kindly host?" He asked quietly, watching Neo pace around the girl slowly. Emerald kept her silence, visibly gritting her teeth. "See, unfortunately for you, that is a very, very bad choice. We need to know what you know, so you have sadly forced out hands to more… Drastic methods."

"Oh please, what are you going to do? Offer me tea without sugar?" Emerald snarled, glaring at him harshly. "All I need to do is hold on until my friends come and get me, fucking pansy, so you can just-"Jaune snapped his fingers loudly and Neo stepped forward, grabbing Emerald's off hand and snapping her thumb in one movement before returning to her pacing.

"I assure you, I am nowhere NEAR as kind as Ozpin is. He tried it his way, and now I do things my way." Jaune smiled viciously, leaning forward and glaring at the girl who was doing her utmost to hide her reaction to the freshly broken thumb. "That was for insulting Ozpin. This is to make sure you are entirely certain of how serious we are."

Neo stepped forward smoothly once again, grabbing the same hand and reaching behind her to pull out a slim knife. Emerald, eyes widening, started sputtering for a moment," W-wait, what are you-" Neo ignored her, swinging the knife down and smiling at the warm sensation in her gut when the girl screamed and the severed little finger tumbled to the floor. "Son of a bitch! What the fuck, you son of a bitch?"

"Neo, she just called my mother a bitch. that's rather rude, don't you think?" Jaune asked calmly, shaking his head in a dismissive way," Rude children should be punished, don't you think, Neo?" Neo nodded, and Emerald screamed yet again when the knife claimed the same hand's ring finger. "Now then, how about we try this again, since you stonewalled my friend. Who ordered the attack on Bol?"

"I-I don't know, I swear. Okay? I don't fucking know! I was in Glenn until you-"

"Lying is rude as well, young lady. Neo?" The heterochromatic girl smiled widely, moving the knife toward the middle finger this time.

"W-wait, please, I'm not lying I swear!" Emerald screamed, staring at the bloodied knife hesitating above her finger, Neo looking back at Jaune who simply nodded. Neo calmly removed the finger from the first knuckle, and Emerald grit her teeth together to avoid screaming again.

"You know what, Neo, she might not know who ordered it." Jaune said dismissively, looking at the panting young girl," But I bet she has an idea of who would know."

"W-what do you-"

"Where is Cinder Fall. If you don't know who did it, the she most certainly will. Nerd to slit that whore's throat either way in any event, so give me her location." He said coolly, looking at the girl.

"If you think I'll stab her in the back, then you're more insane than I thought." Jaune had to admit to himself, he respected that level of loyalty. Still though…

"Neo, help her… 'See things my way' would you?" He asked simply, and Neo smiled widely at him as he stood and walked around Emerald to stand behind her.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked quietly, fear breaking her voice as much as the pain did and watching Neo walk from the room quickly.

"Well, I was thinking, you have such pretty eyes and Neo loves them. She's a bit of a sadist you see, and occasionally helps me get information." He shrugged, simply, the seated girl's confusion only growing when Neo stepped back into the room," Neo has a particular… Thing she likes to do, though I've never seen her do any of this."

"I don't…" Jaune stepped forward, grabbing her head and forcing it to stay still, tilted back to look up at him while Neo walked forward, intentionally clicking her heels for the fear effect. "What are you doing?"

"Last chance, young lady, tell me where she is." Jaune demanded harshly, and Emerald frowned heavily at him.

"Fuck you!" She snarled harshly, and Jaune simply sighed and leaned back so Neo could get to her.

"Don't bother closing your eyes, she'll probably just tear through the lid." Jaune advise her, and Emerald's gut dropped when Neo at last stepped into view, holding an average metal soup spoon in her hand threateningly and everything clicked. But she had some pride, and didn't beg nor buckle under the fear.

In spite of Jaune's rather sound advice, she closed her eyes to try and fend off the spoon and, just as he said, she simply dug it through the eyelid while the girl screamed, and Jaune felt the bile rise in his throat while he watched the manically smiling partner of his dig into the now sobbing girl's skull and pop the left eye out with a sickening wet 'pop'.

Jaune let go of the girl's head and it rolled to the side until it hung down across her chest, tears and blood both falling onto her lap while she quivered," Next we'll start taking the other fingers, and then your toes. We'll leave you the eye until last, so you can see everything." Jaune sighed loudly, returning to his seat," You've held up rather well, there isn't any shame in giving in now. Even Cinder would agree with that."

"S-she's in Vale, I don't know where exactly. All I know is she's with Roman at some warehouse." Emerald's voice was broken, and Jaune nodded lightly in acceptance of the information - the girl was too broken to lie now - and frowned when she looked up at him," P-please, I need a doctor now."

"No, you don't." Jaune dismissed airily, standing up and looking down at her," Who ever said you were leaving here alive?"

"You're a monster…" She said tiredly, head drooping once more as Neo approached, reaching behind her to draw the knife once again.

"No, you people are. You wiped an entire village out of existence, not me. This is just justice." he waved his hand dismissively, turning and throwing the door open to leave.

"And you blew up three Bullheads full of fleeing women and children," Emerald muttered, and Jaune looked back at her, the solitary maroon eye boring into his own.

"Neo, kill this liar." He grunted, and the petite girl did exactly as instructed, knife slicing across her neck easily and ending her entirely. Jaune turned around, and grunted… Before leaning around the corner of the door and emptying his stomach of its contents. Neo, for her part, simply walked over and smiled warmly at him, patting his back lightly until he finished. "I don't give a shit what happens, I am never watching you do that again."

'Want me to get you something to drink?' She signed simply, after he stood and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

"No, but get rid of that for me if you don't mind." She nodded, and he walked away, headed toward the place where the cars were parked before shouting back," Meet up at Beacon in a few hours."

He knew she wouldn't answer, and he also knew she'd do as he asked - as she always, always did - so he left the estate, leaving her to handle the corpse. That was her field of expertise, after all.

And he had to go meet his friends…

**(Ozpin, Ozpin's Office)**

"You… can't possibly be serious, Headmaster." Glynda said shortly, sitting in the chair across from his own with an unamused expression on her face. "This isn't even a funny joke."

"I assure you, Glynda, it is no joke. I did some digging on his partner, Neo Politan. She's a hitman, assassin and general killer throughout the underground. Last my sources have her, she was hired by Torchwick." He paused for effect, taking a short sip from his mug before continuing," She has, through her life, never once abandoned a contract for any reason. So why did she do it now?"

"I… I don't know, but there has to be a good, reasonable reason for it. Not some fantasy about time travel." She shook her head, eyebrows furrowing into a glare.

"Then explain how Neo's entire behavioral pattern has altered, Jaune's radical change in personality and increase in skill, and his knowledge of technology that makes Atlas' best military prototypes look like cheap knockoffs. While you're at it, explain how he knows about Raven as well." He raised a single eyebrow at her, smiling snidely," Once you eliminate every possibility, my dear Glynda, you must consider the impossible."

"So you believe this nonsense then?" She asked, and he gave a simple, calm nod in response. Glynda simply sighed, unable to really argue against the logic," Fine then, I'll get the two teams together shortly for your… 'Meeting.' I'll need fifteen minutes."

"I'll message you when he is here, get them ready." She nodded, standing up and striding from the room mutely. Once she was gone, he took a shaky breath and drained his mug. Even he got stressed out at times.

**(Grimm Studies, Port's Class, Fifteen Minutes Later)**

Glynda's heels clicked loudly when she stepped into Port's class, hands in the small of her back stiffly. Port spotted her easily, taking a pause in his lecture and striding over to see what it was she wanted.

"What's Professor Goodwitch doing here?" Ruby asked quietly, leaning close to Weiss who - annoyed by her untimely speaking as she was - silently agreed.

"Dunno. I haven't done anything to warrant her attention yet. What 'bout you, Blakey?" Yang asked brightly, nudging her partner in her seat. The Faunus merely grunted in acknowledgement, shrugging lightly.

"Teams RWBY and JNPR, please gather your things and accompany Miss Goodwitch. You have a meeting to attend, it seems." Port said solemnly, Glynda's chilled demeanor telling him without words that whatever was happening was deathly serious and so causing his normally boisterous behavior to still," Do not worry about homework tonight, just read the next chapter. Have a good evening."

The two teams quietly did as instructed, each member curious about what had happened to warrant the Headmistress' personal attention and sober Professor Port up so quickly. But they knew better than to question the command, and Glynda's tight, icy vibe silenced all of them.

They could only really wait and see, it seemed.

**(AN)**

**Whelp, I'm done. Couldn't get into the mood to do the whole conversation between Jaune and everyone today. I'll get to work on it tomorrow. **


	18. The Truth

**So, dear readers, I wanna again apologize for cutting the last chapter short. But… Spending a day fine tuning a torture scene kinda took me out of the mood to write frankly anything else. The one I eventually settled on was actually a bit less detailed and a good deal shorter than a couple of my other drafts. Hell, one draft I did was twenty pages long. **

**So I got straight onto the computer as soon as I woke up to pump this out for you. Also, I am setting the Google docs details as font 18, and putting the page limit at 10-13 for now. Would you guys prefer longer? I can and will do longer chapters if you so wish me to, I'm being short for you guys so I really wouldn't mind. **

**Anyway, here's the new chapter.**

**(Beacon Academy Faculty Meeting Room)**

Jaune sighed tiredly, finally stepping into the small meeting area where the seven students and two teachers were waiting - he had anticipated Ozpin telling Glynda about it, they shared everything after all, and was unsurprised by her presence - with Neo at his side.

Contrary to his prior plans, she had managed to get there with him due to traffic in Vale that had slowed his vehicle down considerably after Ozpin took his personal Bullhead to Beacon. He didn't mind, and in fact preferred her presence - she was who he could trust above everyone else - and the nine people all looked at him with varying expressions of boredom, aggravation and curiosity.

"You are very late, Jaune." Ozpin said quietly, using his first name due to their familiarity and the younger man's trust in him. Glynda caught the hint, and her gaze softened at the man slightly. Something had happened recently, and Ozpin was obviously being very understanding of him as a result. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I am. There was traffic, that is all. You should know, our 'contact'," He made sure to enunciate the word with care, ensuring he knew the contact he meant," Was finally coaxed into answering our questions. I have forwarded the information to you, I was hoping you would offer your input on where those two would likely be in Vale."

"I will look into it for you once we conclude the meeting fully. I suspect a few of my… 'Internal' contacts may know their locations, I just need to get into contact with them." He said, skimming the short message - merely two names and the last known location Emerald had given - before setting the Scroll facedown on the table in front of him," I have a feeling you may yet need my authority here, so I doubt you will want me gone."

"You guys gonna tell us what you're talkin' about?" Yang interrupted brashly, and Jaune smiled lightly at it, turning to look at her. "We've been here, like, two hours."

"Miss Xiao Long, I would ask you to have some modicum of respect for-"

"We're talking about my next two targets." Jaune said, interrupting Glynda's rebuke. "A man named Roman Torchwick and a woman named Cinder Fall are responsible for what happened at Bol, I think, so we are going to find them and if they did it, kill them. If not, we'll find out from them who IS responsible. But that's not why you're here today."

"Then why ARE we here?" Ren intoned seriously from his seat beside Nora at the rounded table. Jaune's small smile evaporated almost instantly, turning to look at him levelly and drumming his fingers on the table.

"I… Well… Ozpin, I'm not sure how to tell them about this. At all." He said after several seconds, anxiety ripping through his chest.

"I can relay the story for you, if you wish, though my telling will be far more… Bare bones, I suppose is a word for it, than yours." Jaune nodded, smiling gratefully, and Neo put a hand on his shoulder to offer a modicum of comfort to him.

"I would appreciate that, Ozpin. I trust you to keep it straight and get it out there for me. You were always better at dealing with people." He didn't bother hiding the familiar phrasing, the hint of him knowing Ozpin on a level beyond the norm. "And I would thank everyone for not interrupting until he finishes talking, please."

So Ozpin began to talk, recounting what he himself had been told in the Bullhead. The two teams sat in silence, confusion alone silencing everything they wanted to say. Every denial they wanted to levy. All the while, Jaune's anxiety swelled and his hands balled into painful fists, while Neo kept her hand on his shoulder.

"I did not even consider this fully until he told me the name of one of Vale's deepest cover operatives, whose name cannot be repeated and who he could not have known even existed much less the mission's specifics. Combined with his partner's… History, I am fully convinced." Ozpin looked at Jaune levelly, clearly requesting permission to clarify, and he nodded lightly. "She is a sort of assassin or mercenary. Never, ever turns on a contract regardless of what the contract entails - and yes, Neo, I know about a lot of your past - so her sudden desertion doesn't make much logical sense, to me. Combined with the technology he has created and the sudden, drastic reversal in his personality from before initiation and after. Nothing else that would change the need to work with him explains this information."

"So what, you honestly believe his story? It's… Insane!" Weiss snapped, as he had expected her to. She was the most logical of the group, and as such would oppose it the most as well.

"Then you explain it." Jaune said coldly, staring at her with hard eyes hidden behind the dark sunglasses. "Explain the sudden changes in both of us. Explain my knowledge of mechanized war machines, the kind even Atlesian generals had admitted to being generations beyond even the most extreme prototypes. And then explain this message," he grabbed his Scroll, bringing up the warning message and sliding it across the table to her," Bol was annihilated directly after I was warned to stop changing things."

"This… Has to be fake. It can't be…" Her words trailed off, staring at his Scroll, where the message - date easily visible as well as time of receipt - was resting.

"Bol was destroyed by someone with the monicker 'F', after they warned me to stop changing things. Explain it, Weiss." He spoke calmly, coldly to her and the other winced lightly.

"If that is true then you slept with-"

"Your twenty five year old sister." Jaune interrupted Yang, red eyes meeting his own orbs," After everything we'd both been through, and everything we'd lost, two adults wanted some damn comfort. Sorry if it pisses you off." Ruby was, as predicted, blushing lightly at the sentiment.

"Miss Xiao Long, calm yourself now." Ozpin ordered sternly, the girl's red eyes turning on him," These are entirely different people. The future has already been changed, and so those events never really occurred."

"I would add that, instead of just letting things go and living my own life for a few years, I am saving YOUR world. My family is gone as well now, so I have no real reason to bother even doing so." He sighed tiredly, turning to look behind him at Neo," You want my seat? I can stand for a bit, if you want to sit down." She tapped her chin in thought for a moment, before plopping into his lap unexpectedly. Jaune blinked in surprise, but the girl was likely still riding on the excitement of her 'fun' with Emerald," Not what I meant, Neo."

'I know, but this is more comfortable.' She signed, wiggling into a comfy position and letting her legs hang over the edge of the chair.

"Just ignore Neo. She's…. weird sometimes." He said quietly, an unamused expression on his face. Neo was, of course, merely doing what she could to distract him from the anxiety the situation had caused for him. She just wasn't good with people.

"So, just to clarify, everything you've been doing has been to… Help?" Pyrrha asked simply, obviously doing as she was advised to and ignoring the tiny girl's antics. Jaune, of course, noded at the question, and Pyrrha looked guilty for a moment. "Then… I apologize, for my behavior. I thought you were selfish and self-centered, and it turns out you're a good person."

"I wouldn't say either Neo or myself are 'good'," he argued nonchalantly, doing his best to ignore Neo wiggling in his lap to mess with him," but we aren't the bad guys here."

"Why wouldn't you think yourself good?" Ren asked perceptively, eyes narrowing in mild suspicion.

"The good guys don't kill people, or seek revenge. Nor do they wipe out entire settlements of them, all of which I have done. You are the good people, we are the unfortunately needed ones." He snaked a hand under Neo's leg, pinching behind her knee to stop her incessant wiggling. "I will, of course, spare you the grittier details but… well, Ozpin felt it only just to tell you about me."

Neo pouted at him, but he ignored her when Nora spoke," Well, Jauney is still our friend. And he trusts us, so we should trust him."

"So you destroyed Mountain Glenn?" Weiss asked quietly, looking at her Scroll in her lap, reading through a news report. "You collapsed the entire settlement"

"Right on top of the same White Fang who razed Bol to the ground." Jaune confirmed, nodding his head," It's also where we captured someone and Neo 'convinced' her to tell us what we now know."

"You killed all those people…" Ruby said sadly, wringing her cloak in her hands. "That's… Wrong. You shouldn't kill people, Jaune."

"I kill monsters, Ruby. Nothing more, nothing less. Those people killed thousands, literally feeding them to the Grimm. But you are right, and yet wrong." He sighed, standing up and making Neo flip up, off the table to stand beside him. "Good people shouldn't kill, but I'm not good. You, your friends? You should never take a life. That is my job."

"And who appointed you judge, jury and executioner?" Blake asked angrily, glaring at him, and he smiled understandingly at her. A gesture she mistook," Don't mock me."

"I'm not. But to answer your question, my world which fell to destruction due to the White Fang's actions is what appoints me as such. Though, that is the reason I am telling you all of this." He gestured at them calmly, smiling bitterly," My oldest friends, I'm hoping, can help guide me. I can't do this alone, after all. I'm heading home now, to allow you all to think on it."

He left without another word, striding back out the door stiffly and leaving the others to talk amongst themselves, Weiss being the first to speak," So we're going to support him, I'm guessing?"

"I am." Nora said calmly, smiling at Ren," He trusted us, big time, so we owe him. 'Sides, all he's doing is trying to help us, it'd be downright nasty to turn on him now."

"I, for one, have his back entirely. As does everyone here, I sincerely hope." Ozpin said quietly, setting his mug on the table beside in front of him," All of us have sworn to protect Vale, and the citizens that live in it. Not standing with him is directly opposed to that."

"You're right, I guess." Yang grunted, dropping into her seat heavily," But I don't like the prick, talking about my baby sister like that."

"Yang, he didn't say anything about ME. He hasn't actually done anything to me, just to… Future me?" Ruby countered quietly, face screwing up in thought," I dunno, it's weird, but he hasn't tried anything with me me. Just the other me."

"This is an odd conversation," Pyrrha muttered honestly, looking at Goodwitch," What do you think about all this?"

"I think that Ozpin is right. Our duty, first and foremost, is to protect people who need protecting. He is doing exactly that, if in a rather… Brutal manner. I would worry he hates Faunus, but he has made it clear in the past he hates the current White Fang, not Faunus as a whole." She frowned lightly, shaking her head," I don't know what else to think, honestly."

"Maybe we should vote on it?" Ren offered simply," It seems the fairest way of deciding."

"I agree. Everyone who wishes to stand with Jaune and I, raise your hands," Everyone except Glynda and Yang's hands rose immediately, and Ozpin nodded," Then you are all going to support him. I doubt things will honestly change all that much for you, honestly."

The group continued to discuss the things they had just learned for several hours, until the group finally scattered to think on their own sides of the issue.

Jaune and Neo simply returned to their vehicle, and once again got stuck in the traffic on the way back. The drive was slow, and rather awkward for Jaune because Neo kept touching his leg in the back seat.

Eventually, Jaune sighed and rolled the interior window up so he could speak to her privately without the driver hearing and asked," Neo, why are you acting so strange?"

'I had a nice time this morning, that's all.' She signed, smiling coyly,' No one else lets me act like that. Even Roman hated me for it, even when he ordered it.'

"Well, I don't necessarily enjoy it, but it would be backwards of me to hold my own orders against you. Doesn't matter much to me that you get off on it either. We're friends, after all." He said simply, shrugging and she smiled at him.

'Could be more.' She said simply, and he raised an eyebrow at her. 'Don't look at me like that, you're just as lonely as I am.'

"True, but I don't do casual things like that, Neo. I'm lonely, but I take these things very seriously. If I didn't, I'd have hired a hooker to warm my bed for me." He said simply, to which Neo simply raised a questioning, mildly offended eyebrow. "Not to call you a hooker, I mean. I meant that, uh…"

'I'm just fucking with you.' She signed simply, sliding up against his side,' And I'm not talking about some fling. I like you. You accept me, and let me have my fun, and you're a badass besides.'

"Well, so long as you're serious as well, what would be your thoughts for moving forward?" He asked calmly, sliding his right arm around her shoulder comfortably.

She grinned widely, swinging around into his lap to straddle him," I had a couple ideas, until we get home at least." She whispered audibly, grabbing his sunglasses and tossing them onto her old seat.

"Figured you would, surprised you spoke though. So what would these-" She silenced him with a kiss, and he chuckled internally before giving into it. He HAD been lonely, and her wiggling in his lap earlier had left him frustrated.

**(AN)**

**Ahh, to Lemon or not to Lemon, lol. Anyway, the vote selected Neo as the pairing, so I'm going to start swinging for that particular fence. The hell is the ship name for this anyway? Does that even exist?**

**Anyway, more on track, do you guys think I should TRY lemons in the future? I have NEVER written one, ever, at all. But I haven't done torture either, so fuck it. Up to you guys. **


	19. Black Fire

(Jaune Arc, Downtown Vale Apartments, One Week Later)

"Neo, get up and put some damn pants on." Jaune grumbled lowly, Crocea Mors on his hip swinging slowly as he walked into the room," Weiss wants us for a press conference downtown in an hour."

She sighed, yawning before rolling out of bed, stretching comfortably - and chuckling when Jaune did as he always did, and his eyes inevitably locked on her ass - and started getting dressed for the day,' It's too damned early.'

"It's nine in the morning." He corrected, smiling happily at the woman when a thought occurred," Hey, just wondering and it just occurred to me… How old are you?" She gave him an odd look, eyebrow rising in amusement," Just curious."

'My secret to keep,' she signed, flowing it smoothly into the universal sign for "fuck you buddy" and smiling at him warmly.

"Yeah, whatever. Come on, you little sadistic psychopath, we have a meeting to get to." He turned then, walking out of the bedroom towards the door to leave," And wear a damn bra, the last time we went to a press conference they talked about that shit for two days!"

She scowled in an angry manner, rifling through her drawers to get a bra out and throwing on the rest of her usual outfit, grabbing her parasol and a hairbrush as she ran out the door to join Jaune in the car where he was waiting, patiently reading news articles that referred to his recently produced Knightmares being used by the Valean military to clear Grimm out of areas with Hunter support.

'Anything good?' She signed breezily, looking at the device in his hands with mild curiosity glittering in her eyes.

"My Knightmares are doing splendidly against the Grimm whenever they have Hunters supporting them, just as designed. The White Fang have been quiet for a while as well, at least in Vale, and Atlas is stepping up its weapons projects to try and compete." He smiled brightly at her, eyes glowing faintly behind his sunglasses," So far, all things are going as I planned." What he left unsaid was that this meant Cinder's operations were stalled in Vale, and Atlas was inadvertently preparing for the hell that he feared would come from the center of the continent soon enough, unless his latest pet project came to fruition in which case he would simply annihilate the entire region in totality.

He blinked when his Scroll started buzzing, another call from Weiss coming through, and sighed before answering," What is it this time? We're on our way to the meeting already."

"Meeting? What meeting?" She sounded confused, and Jaune tapped his fingers on the dividing window to tell his driver to slow down. He gave Neo a meaningful look - eyes narrowed and hard - and reached up to remove the sunglasses with a flick. "Jaune?"

"Weiss, call Vale PD and tell them there's a White Fang attack at," he looked outside for a street sign, finding the lack of people on the streets discomforting," Forty-second Industrial. Call anyone else you can get here as well."

"What? What is going on?" She demanded angrily from the other end, and Jaune tapped the glass two more times in rapid succession followed by a hard knock, telling the driver to lower the dividing window.

"Just do it." He snapped impatiently, looking at the driver after he'd hung up on her," Pull over next to that store and go inside as if you're getting us something to eat, and find somewhere to hide."

"Sir?" He asked in a confused tone, but after a brief glare from the younger man he opted to simply follow the order and pulled over to do as instructed. The man took two steps towards the restaurant before his head snapped to the side, an arrow sprouting from the side of his skull as he fell before it shattered into glass shards when the man's head hit the ground. The duo of actual fighters, using the inadvertent distraction, bolted from the car in separate directions, each headed into an alley for cover on opposite sides of the relatively wide street.

He recognized the arrows, from his past life, and snapped at the firer," Damnit, Fall, he was a civilian! Don't you have any decency at all?" He rolled his eyes when he heard the whir of a chainsaw, rolling to the side to evade the massive White Fang soldier's attack and standing up, shield and sword in hand, to prepare for the combat he knew couldn't be avoided. "Come on, Fall, let's get the party started!"

The woman he had addressed dropped down from one of the buildings nearby, glaring at him intently," You had to know we would come for you for what you did, Arc."

"Yeah, terrorists and villains like yourself tend to take exception to the heros who show up and put them in the ground." He smiled widely, holding his arms out to the side in a showy fashion," So go on, kill me if you can. Cuz once I have your head, everyone responsible for what you fuckers did will be dead. Well, except Roman, but Neo can get him." He looked to her and she nodded as she approached him, parasol in one hand and blade in the other in a pantomime of a shield and sword. He took a moment to take stock of all of the people round him and smiled," Only ten goons? You should know that isn't enough, Fall."

"How would I know this?" She asked shortly, glaring at the duo in front of her," Besides, you killed or broke almost everyone else. And since you don't have your precious machine, I think we can win."

"I don't have to win, Arc. Because I have already won," she smiled cruelly at the duo," Do you really not know what you did? You are a murderer, Arc, worse than any of the White Fang."

"Oh? And how does that work? I killed terrorists responsible for far worse, after all. Society will love me for what I did when they find out." He smiled widely, looking around him," You idiots, resorting to violence. Violence begets violence, and that is what I gave you."

"You murdered my wife and daughters!" The massive, chainsaw wielder roared, stomping his foot on the ground in anger, and Jaune turned to look at him unflinchingly.

"Other Fang soldiers I killed? Why is that relevant?" He asked simply, honest curiosity in his voice.

"Oh gods, you really don't know do you?" A doe Faunus muttered lowly, weapon lowering ever so slightly," You… You shot down the transports that were carrying our families out of Mountain Glenn."

"N-No, I didn't. I shot down terrorists trying to…" There was no way that Emerald's lie could be known by these people, she'd been taken during the fight and hadn't lived long enough for any forms of contact. "I... " Jaune fell to his knees in realization, tears brimming in his eyes. "I-I was just… What have I done?"

"You're a monster." Cinder smiled in an almost sinister way, walking towards his shocked form while Neo looked between the shell shocked, unresponsive Jaune and the surrounding enemies.

'Dust damn this stupid…' She grimaced, stepping between the woman and her prey and glaring up at her defiantly, to which the woman merely smiled cruelly and signalled for her grunts to get ready to attack.

"Now, now, Neo, do you really think you can beat all of us?" She scoffed, flames licking up her arms in an almost dancing manner," Me alone, maybe you'd stand a chance. But me and all my men, while you protect him," she motioned at the kneeling boy, who had yet to recover yet," You fight me, you both die. So leave, and save me some men."

The woman blinked, thinking to herself for several seconds before looking back at the man behind her and sighing. Then she took a step away from him, poised to defend herself, and kept walking away. Then she ran, full tilt, into the city towards where she knew the PD was located.

Cinder smiled cruelly to herself, turning to look at the woman who had spoken before," Take a pair of men with you and try to stall the police. We'll-"

She jumped back inelegantly to avoid the haphazard blade swing from the glaring blonde, and frowned at him angrily when he straightened jerkily to glare at her, "You bitch… You want to know what makes us different? I know I'm a monster now. I've killed innocent people. So killing a few more guilty ones wouldn't be very FUCKING DIFFICULT!"

He could feel it inside him. Rage, hatred, betrayal and pain all surging within him in an almost tangible, burning sensation that flowed up and into his eyes. The words flowed to his lips unbidden and his Aura surged to his eyes as though it's only wish was to be there, all culminating in one, quiet utterance. "Susanoo."

The flames crackled to life, black fire flowing from his eyes and around his body in an almost demonic manner. One of the Faunus, a young Bull, reacted to the instinctive fear as befitted his animalistic side. By charging him with the intent to end him then and there. Jaune merely flicked his sword arm to the side, an ethereal fist grabbing him and setting him alight before flinging him, screaming horribly, to the side.

By now the fire had truly enveloped his entire form, hiding all but the menacing crimson eyes from view, and the ensuing barrage of Dust rounds had absolutely no effect, melting and evaporating anything that got near it effortlessly. Cinder was stunned herself - who could have predicted that he was in fact more dangerous outside his war machine? - and quickly backpedaled from the vicious, club like appendage that had taken form on his right arm.

"What's wrong, Fall? I thought I was helpless. So come on then, face me." Cinder practically snarled at the sinister, raspy voice, hurling a ball of condensed fire at his chest vainly. "Jingle jingle, little bitch, when I'm done I'll leave you in a ditch~"

"Fucking shoot him!" She ordered, uncharacteristically swearing at her followers loudly and conjuring her bow. He simply stood and accepted the useless attacks, cackling loudly before he lashed out with his fiery shield-arm, killing all but three of the remaining Fang grunts. Two of the three fled immediately, and the only one who stayed quickly wished he had joined them when Jaune immolated him without a thought.

"What's wrong? Your demons came back to this time with you, and now you will die for what you did both in future and past. But first..." She opened her mouth to speak, confusion etched onto her face, and his hand lashed out to grab her head, lifting her bodily off the ground. A cruel smile appeared on his face, as he leaned in close. A skull appeared from the flames, a darker flame forming the eyes. "Give me a hug."

"W-what? Really?" She asked quietly, eyes narrowing in confusion. The flame cloaked figure merely smiled sinisterly, titling his head to the side in amusement?

"Of course not, you stupid bitch." He laughed cruelly, reaching out with his off hand to touch her chest and letting the fire take hold on her body and letting her fall from his grip, "Have fun."

She flailed desperately, trying to beat the black flames out and flared her own Semblance to try and counter the black flames with her own. He watched, making sure it would fail - which it did - and watching her scream as she burned slowly, eventually collapsing into unconsciousness and, soon after, death.

Once she had died, he sank to his knees - spent in every ounce of the meaning of the word - and reached up to wipe at his eyes, smearing the blood across his coat that had leaked from his eyes and collapsing to the side into unconsciousness.

Neo returned, several PD officers and Ozpin himself in tow and ready for a fight, just in time to see him fall. Understandably distressed, she sprinted ahead of them - heedless of the wound still fresh from the trio of Fang soldiers that had caught her and her companions by surprise - to his side, ignoring the dead around them.

"Gods above…" one of the officers muttered in shock, looking at the burnt and crushed corpses around them," That kid did all this?"

"Indeed." Ozpin muttered, kneeling beside the small woman and the young man, looking at her evenly," He isn't quite normal, nor is he a kid any longer. So Neo," she looked at him cautiously, the glint in his eyes frightening her for some unknown reason," you need to tell me what caused this reaction, and why they attacked him so brazenly."

The ensuing conversation, and the answers it would bring to light, would change everything for Jaune and Neo, and all those involved with him. And not necessarily in a positive light for them in any manner of speaking. Though Jaune was, of course, the agent of a great many changes already and as such a few more wouldn't be too large of a surprise.

(AN)

So, as with another of my stories, I would like to thank Miki-chan for helping me get this to an adequate scene. I had some difficulty with it mostly due to the multiple emotionally based elements the characters involved had involved in the scene. For those unaware, I have very mild sociopathic tendencies. I can't really relate to emotions properly or understand them in others (No, I'm not insane, that would be psychopathic).

Everyone has some amount of sociopathic tendencies in them, mine are just more pronounced than average. I don't need anything for it, I just get confused by emotions. So thanks to Miki for the help in said emotional scenes, without her this would be an outright shit chapter.

Anyway, how well did I handle Jaune's going berserk? Me and Miki tried for a sort of Alucard-esque thing with it. To be open about it, he basically went full on crazy there.

As usual, any and all thoughts are welcome. Please drop a Review with them, or a PM if you prefer. I try to respond to any and all of both I get (if I don't respond within a day and you want me to, drop another PM)

~ Twisted


	20. Past Pain

**(AN)**

**So, final stretches in the story. Not much further to the end of the line, in more ways than one. Maybe ten chapters or so, at maximum. Gotta say this story is, at least I hope, going rather well. The next chapter or so is going to be mainly focused on finishing up the character arcs around Jaune. Do bear in mind, this has mostly focused solely ON Jaune. For everyone else, it's been spectation and nothing else. **

**So, thanks to the everyone who read, followed and reviewed. I hope you'll join me on future adventures both on Remnant and elsewhere in the multiverse. I legitimately didn't think anyone would read, much less like, what I was writing. So thanks for the time and help, to all of you. **

**Special thanks to Mika-chan and Silver, one my new co-writer and the other a ludicrously old reader (as in, Dusts and Darkness old) reader. Both are new friends. **

**~ a very grateful Twisted**

**Mika here. Just want to say, there WILL be blood. And it will be a fitting ending for both Geass and the Uchiha, from which much of this has come. I can hardly wait myself.**

**~ A very excited Mika. **

**(Vale Central Medical Center)**

Neo winced, leg still aching from the now-removed bullets - which was her own fault twice over, for being stupid and not keeping her head up and for being stubborn and refusing painkillers - and glared at the still-arguing young women, Weiss and Ruby.

"I already called my father. He is on his way with SDC guards, and he's negotiating with General Ironwood to get real protective details on him," with his injuries, and the already spreading news of what he had done in Mountain Glenn, Weiss had decided he needed protection.

"Soldiers and your personal army won't help, Weiss. They'll make it worse. He didn't do anything wrong on purpose, he'll just look guilty if we start body-guarding him like some…. Some… Bodyguard needer!" Ruby felt that such actions would seem aggressive and incite anger at the, apparently, guilty party which would result in more deaths.

The three of them had been among the first to arrive when Jaune was admitted to the hospital for severe Aura depletion and apparent eye trauma, judging from the blood which had been leaking from his eyes. The others were on their way, aside from Ren and Nora who were waiting for food for the group at a nearby restaurant, the latter hungry and the former trying to keep her out of the hospital. So that left the three girls, Jaune and Ozpin sitting in the small room quietly, waiting for him to wake up.

Neo felt the anxiety well up in her for the fifth time in the last few hours, looking at the sleeping young man on the hospital bed. Ozpin, being the ever perceptive one, took note of it and lifted a single hand off his cane, signing with the ease of someone with practice,' What is bothering you?'

She almost, almost, ignored his question before signing back,' He's in the hospital because I fucked up. Didn't check out Glenn well enough, didn't spot the signs of the ambush either. And I left him there in the fight.'

'To get help against foes you couldn't fight off.' Ozpin pointed out simply, smiling in a way meant to comfort her. 'He will understand that.'

'And if he doesn't? If he gets angry, makes me leave?' Her concern was genuine. She, believe it or not, liked him a lot. He was nice to her and didn't try and change her. She valued that a lot more than even he realized.

'He won't. If he gets angry, just leave and I'll explain everything to him myself. Then I can come and get you from your apartment.' She stared at him for a second, starting to sign a response, when Jaune grunted in an almost pained manner.

He blinked, looking up at the ceiling as he looked around, his eyes locking onto Neo. "What is she doing here?"

Neo blinked at the words and tone, raising her hands to sign nervously. 'I came to say tha-"

"I don't want to hear it, Neo. Leave. Now." Jaune said, a bit of harshness entering his voice as the betrayal and desertion stung him once more.

'But i-' She tried desperately to sign, to explain herself.

"Neo, you abandoned me back there! And now you come back, begging for forgiveness, and expect everything to be-"

"Mr Arc." Ozpin interrupted, leveling an icy glare at the boy. "Neopolitan did not abandon you. She came back. With backup. Hunters, police… She went and got everyone she could for you, and got shot in the process."

Jaune blinked, his gaze softening as he sighed. "I'm sorry, Neo. I guess I should have trusted you."

Neo nodded sagely, uncrossing her arms. 'You're forgiven. Asshole.'

"I love you too." Jaune chuckled as Neo's cheeks flushed a faint rose.

Ozpin coughed a bit, looking at Jaune. "I suppose I should tell you now instead of later... The Hunter's Association has suspended your license until you pass a psych test, thanks to what happened back at Bol, Mountain Glen, and now Downtown Vale."

"What? No, I'm fine, really. Perfectly fine. The White Fang's crippled, Fall is dead..."

"That is precisely the problem. Your entire family was killed, Jaune. And you brushed it off. The Association is worried."

"I'm fine, I assure you." Jaune insisted.

"I'm not the one you have to convince, Mr. Arc. Miss Nocturne?" Ozpin spoke up, calling the name of someone. "Miss Schnee, Miss Rose, we need some privacy for this, if you don't mind. I doubt you want to really hear everything he'll be revealing momentarily."

"Fine. I need to coordinate with my father anyways," Weiss muttered lowly, looking at her partner for a second," Come on, let's go to that bakery you saw." The two girls left relatively quietly, minus Ruby's hyperactive reaction to the thought of the soon-to-be-hers sweets.

Ozpin looked to the empty door as a young looking fox faunus walked briskly inside, dressed in a dark green suit common for Vale officials. " Miss Nocturne."

"Professor Ozpin." She greeted in a sing song voice, her emerald eyes locking onto Jaune's warmly in a clear effort to make a starting connection to help her help him better.

_**A semblance is unleashed, ripping, tearing through flesh and bone, killing human soldiers in an unstoppable whirlwind of blades. The faunus general merely stares as they straighten their beret, seemingly uncaring about the humans they had just impaled so easily.**_

Jaune blinked as a memory hit him like a freight train, remembering a very certain general who had been feared on the battlefield. He bit back a growl of displeasure as he spoke up lowly, his knuckles white. "Miss Nocturne, may I ask you a few questions while you ask yours?"

"I see no harm in it. Ask away, after I'm finished, of course. I do need to get my report started quickly, if you want to get out of here any time soon." She smiled again, a small fang sticking out from her lips. "First, let's play a simple game. I'll say a word, you say the first thing that comes into your head, alright?"

_**The General smiles. In any other circumstance, in any other place, it would be fitting for her face, beautiful even. But here on the battlefield, surrounded by the corpses they had made, it sends shivers down the spines of all who see it. The shivers have nothing to do with the snowy temperatures of the battlefield. **_

"Alright then." He said quietly, trying desperately to force the memories to cease their torments. He needed something to drink, quickly.

"War." Miss Nocturne began, speaking calmly in an effort not to break the young man when he didn't need to.

"Waste." He muttered lowly, bitter and angry at the memories that had been dredged up and which were trying desperately to overwhelm his senses and faculties.

_**Hundreds of bodies were laid out, white sheets spread over them. Friends. Brothers, sisters and parents all cut down without need. Potential and desires, goals and wishes, all left to ash and dust. Only a simple sheet to show for everything they'd been capable of.**_

"Family." She spoke plainly, simply and quietly. He'd lost the entirety of his, and she needed to know how far the damage went.

Betrayal, he almost said, but held his tongue. "Loss." An apt word for it, to explain what it meant without overly showing any things she could list as problems he had.

_**Jaune bit back tears as he saw his parents and sisters, bodies burned and broken and left to the sun's abuse. He lit them on fire, burning their bodies as was tradition and frowning angrily. **_

"Wish." She asked quietly, though this particular word was more to sate her own curiosity than to answer any real questions.

"Peace." He spoke wistfully, the wish evident in his tone to both of the other two in the room.

_**The Vytal Festival was in full swing. Jaune was enjoying a bowl of ramen alongside Team RWBY and the rest of his team, team CFVY walking past them happily, talking about their missions and plans for the festival. Everyone was happy, their futures safe and bright. And Jaune was truly at peace, though Hunters were becoming gradually less and less respected as time wore on after the Breach. **_

Nocturne popped open the tabs to her briefcase, putting a few photographs in front of him quietly, " These are inkblot images. Just… Tell me what you see." He stared at them for several moments, thinking to himself.

'Blood, a dying warrior, and fire.' He couldn't give those answers, they would attract negative attention. "Spilled water, a man lying down and a warm fire." Close enough to the truth to trick anyone, and the actual truth in a way for the last two.

She stared at him for several seconds, and Neo glared at her suspiciously while Ozpin watched warily. Jaune had reacted quite negatively, and quite subtly to that, which had put the former on edge and made the latter quite curious. "Lying doesn't bode well for your mental health, you know. Even small lies."

"...Blood, a dying warrior and fire. There, now can you please just tell them I am fine?" He turned to look at Ozpin meaningfully," I'm almost finished." The man's eyes widened ever so slightly at the statement, though the Vale official couldn't understand the reactions of either.

"That answers that question. You haven't gone insane or apathetic, so that's a point in your favor. So, Jaune…" Miss Nocturne spoke, brushing her hair from her face as she looked down at the table, her hands roaming across the steel. "Fighting Grimm. You think that they're scary, or what?"

"Who doesn't? But they're easy enough to kill." He shrugged lightly, confused at the sudden shift in tone of the conversation.

"I agree completely. I'm a former huntress myself. I remember the first time I fought a Beowolf. Jumped me head on, a lone wolf. I stabbed it in the chest, of course, but it scared the hell out of me. You remember your first kill?" She was being open to make him open up himself. An old tactic, but a useful one.

" Sure, I managed to kill a Deathstalker and a regular Ursa beforehand, but the first was mostly the work of my team and the second was with a single partner's help." He said quietly, eyes narrowed in suspicion of the woman in front of him. "Why didn't you disable it?

"What do you mean?" She asked, curious tone in her voice.

"Cut off a limb. Slow it down, something like that." His explanation was obvious, even to him when he was young and stupid.

"I was young and stupid. I had never even seen Grimm past museums, pictures, and movies." She laughed disarmingly, and Neo glared at her almost obvious attempts to charm him.

"I see." Much like he had himself. "Did you have training?"

"Yes, I did, actually. But… Faunus never could make it to training schools. Too racist, too… Elite. I was lucky though- the Headmaster took me in, trained me, and I made it into Signal with flying colors due to Ozpin stating himself that he had personally trained me. And then, I went into Beacon. Anyways, Going back to the Deathstalker… How'd you get past the armor?" She asked curiously, smiling in as charming a way as she could at him.

"Back then, it was hit stuff until it died. Sure, there were plans, tactics… But I was the weak link in my team. And then I remembered a few plans my father had made that would lead to me creating the Knightmares." He shrugged simply again, turning to look at Neo who mirrored the action.

"You mentioned your father. How about this- a story for a story." She raised a thin eyebrow at him in question.

"I'd rather not." He said simply, in a sharp, hard voice that broached no more discussion.

"I can tell that it's a sensitive subject. So what's up with your eyes?" She asked in a sweet voice, watching the black swirl in his pupils.

"It's a part of my semblance." He said vaguely, instantly on guard a bit when she mentioned his eyes.

"Ah. I have an ice semblance myself. My daughter loves it when I make her snowcones. So… What does it do?" She seemed genuinely curious, and he relaxed slightly at the words and the fact she seemed to just be being friendly.

"It gives me an enhanced sense of sight and a photographic memory. You have a daughter?" He was genuinely curious, as he had always liked children. Especially young ones, their innocence was wondrous to him.

"Yeah. Lasted three years and ten months at Beacon before I got pregnant by my husband. Managed to get my license, sure, but I was out of the hunting business for a while. That was… Oh... four years ago? Anyways, I better begin my report..."

Miss Nocturne got up, nodding to Ozpin, who also stood up and left. As she entered the doorway, following behind him, she overheard Jaune speaking. "Miss Nocturne, if I might ask a theoretical question… If your daughter was badly hurt, possibly killed, what would you do to the person who caused it?"

Nocturne froze in place, turning around and glaring into Jaune's eyes. "I would freeze them solid."

_**At a different time, in a different place, Luna Nocturne wasn't a Huntress. She wasn't a military psychiatrist. She was a terrorist. She was a feared General of the White Fang. But at her core… **__She was a grieving mother._

Her gaze softened as she gave another smile.

"Thank you for your time, Mr Arc. I am legally required to talk to Ozpin privately before I make my decision, and the Headmaster is legally required to give you the Association's ruling himself. We can't do the other's jobs. What I can say is that you are recognising your flaws now. Also… Call me Luna." She turned back towards the door, Ozpin on her heels as they left and started walking down the halls towards Luna's office down the hall, purposefully near Jaune pending exactly the conversation they had held.

The office was moderately large, though nothing compared to Ozpin's own office at Beacon, with comfortable chairs on the other side of a simple oak desk and tall bookshelves lining the walls. The two took opposing seats, Ozpin reclining comfortably in the chair with a mug in his hands as per usual, as Luna prepared her own brew of tea, sitting down at her desk and opening a few manila folders.

They spent a few minutes in silence before Luna spoke up.

"He was lying about the eye semblance. Unless he can also ignite multiple people with his enhanced vision." She said simply, staring Ozpin fully in the face and cutting straight to the point.

Ozpin immediately lost all the ease he'd had prior, growing suspicious, and asked. "How do you know that?"

"Video surveillance there is standard, it's the military's industrial area. The ambushers wanted to send a message. Had a transmitter setup and everything. Every single station in Vale would've had the murder of Jaune Arc on air whenever the leader pressed the button. Instead… A few of them got turned to cinders instantly. They were the lucky ones." She said informatively and coldly, almost clinically taking the event apart, and pulling several stills of the event from her folder to show him.

"I see." He muttered sadly, staring at the rather unfortunate pictures and knowing they could easily damn him if that was the goal.

"While I was talking to him, as well, he sent up a few red flags. The disabling comment, the Inkblots, the Question/Response test… At Mountain Glenn, the Knightmare that attacked, now known to have been piloted by Jaune Arc, utterly destroyed the White Fang troops." She paused for a moment, as though searching for the right words to say to continue," The problem, however, is that a vast majority of combat was deliberately cruel, including the introduction of Grimm by sabotaging the exterior wall. From that, I can guess that he is brutal and merciless in combat. His first combat was with a Deathstalker. No casualties of any kind."

"Your point being?" Ozpin asked lowly, staring coldly at the woman in front of him," From what I am hearing so far, Jaune is a capable combatant willing to fight and win however he needs to who is a capable leader."

"He's experiencing PTSD of some trauma or another, and I don't know what the cause of it is. Even when I entered he was on guard. He's dangerous. A potential threat to Vale, even. Created the deadliest weapon in the past few years." She stirred her tea slowly, thinking," That invention is why I am not recommending forced retirement, if not incarceration."

"What do you recommend then?" Ozpin asked simply, grateful for her considerations at the very least.

Luna sipped her tea, inwardly enjoying the taste. "He can go on Grimm hunts. No patrols, no Quests. Any human fights, he's out of there. No exceptions." She paused for a moment," I am… Also granting the rights to his Knightmare frames solely to Weiss."

"He won't be happy to hear that." Ozpin said shortly, sighing lightly," But I don't suppose it would help to try and fight it. Very well, I shall go and speak to him."

**(AN)**

**And there's the chapter. Hope you all enjoy it, and leave any thoughts in the Reviews thanksalot~**


	21. Understanding

**Twisted ~ Okay, so a guy named Arc-Angel left a comment that me and Mika discussed a while back, stating that Luna couldn't take anything from Jaune. This isn't quite true. See, Remnant's countries are Kingdoms for a reason, in that they are basically elected dictatorships or monarchies. Whatever they decide for their militaries - especially the Hunters - is law. You cannot argue against it. In essence, as a Hunter, Jaune is property of the government and so is everything he creates or does. **

**The average citizens of the Kingdom also cannot resist any orders made, though they often are more vocal about oppositions to decisions. This is why, for example, they could make an executive decision to seal off Mountain Glenn, leaving every man, woman and child to die. And yes, that is in CANON. This happened.**

**The world isn't pretty like the show conveys, it is dark and dirty. Thoughts, Mika?**

**Mika~ Yes, from the show itself, the last lines of dialogue spoken in the Episode Mountain Glenn- **

_**Yang**_**: "An underground village?"**

_**Oobleck: "**_**In a matter of speaking, yes. A safe haven. Until... an explosion opened the mouth of another cavern, filled with subterranean Grimm. After that, the Kingdom officially sealed off the tunnels, creating the world's largest tomb. If Ruby is down there, we must find her…"**

**Twisted ~ So as you can see, the Kingdoms can, in CANON, do whatever they feel is needed to secure their people. she could have had Jaune executed or imprisoned, if she so wished, or anything else she chose to do. Anything else you'd like to say, Mika-chan?**

**Mika ~ No, only that I believe that proves my case.**

**Twisted ~ Now then, onto the story. Last we left it, Jaune was in the infirmary due to Aura exhaustion. It's kind of like overexerting yourself and passing out. Not too big a deal, really, just a minor problem.**

**(Jaune Arc, Beacon Hospital Room)**

Ozpin entered the room, sitting down gently as he considered what he was going to say. "Mr. Arc… Jaune." Ozpin began. Why was it that he had told hundreds of parents, children, and siblings that their family wasn't coming home, but telling Jaune this was so hard? "Miss Nocturne has made her decision. Due to her belief that you are suffering extreme Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, you are, as of right now, limited. You are no longer permitted to engage in Human combat, Quests, or patrols. Doing so will result in your summary imprisonment. Also... your Knightmare Frame's rights belong solely to Weiss now."

"Ozpin, there are two options here. Option one is that you're fucking with me, and option two is you're serious. If you're serious, I will absolutely have Neo kill that bitch and change the orders in the system," Jaune bobbed his head at Neo who smiled expectantly in an almost eerie way.

Ozpin suddenly unclasped his hands, an aura hitting the two of them that felt almost physical. Neo and Jaune's eyes widened as Ozpin removed his glasses, a grim look on his face. "That Bitch, as you called her, is my personal student. I know her. I trust her. I raised her. She is a Major in the Hunter's Association, and therefore the Kingdom's United Militaries. You, Lieutenant Arc, are overstepping your bounds. I know that she is doing the best she can. If she put those strict rules down, it is obvious that the Hunter's Association is calling for your execution. In fact, you will most likely be called to answer to the Association in person. She is risking everything to keep you as free as possible." Ozpin's aura suddenly deepened, and Neo realized that he could easily kill even Raven, though not escape completely unscathed. "She is your only ally, your only friend, in the Association. I cannot help you anymore, only she can."

"What do you mean? Why can't you help us anymore? I thought we had an alliance, Ozpin. Wasn't that the point?" Jaune demanded angrily, eyes narrowing and black lines spinning in his head intimidatingly.

Ozpin rose calmly from his chair, still directing the heavy, choking aura at the two. He looked away, a troubled gaze set in his eyes. "I am the Headmaster of Beacon Academy. I am also, however, a Major General in the Association. You are my student, so I cannot defend you by law." He held up a hand to stop the interruption he knew Jaune was about to make, and smiled grimly yet again," Luna, however, has decided to do it herself, apparently. Most likely due to the debt she believes she owes me. Luna left a copy of her files on my desk. The Association wishes to execute you due to the Knightmares and what you did to the White Fang and it's associates. She, however, sees a potential end to the White Fang and a chance for a more peaceful group to take it's place. She also," Ozpin's attention settled at last on a wary Jaune, firm as steel. "Thinks she sees a bit of herself in you."

"What do you mean? What on earth could she see in me of herself?" Jaune laughed and glared angrily at Ozpin," We are nothing alike." Neo, sensing his discomfort, climbed onto the bed with him to cuddle with him, against her nature a thing to do as it was.

Ozpin's shoulders heaved as he sighed deeply. "And that is where you are wrong. When I found Luna, she was a freezing, starving orphan on the streets of Menagerie, not even nine. She never knew her father and her mother had died." He began to walk to the other side of the bed, his eyes never straying from where they met Jaune's. "She was starving to death because no human had enough compassion to give her a loaf of bread. I personally bought her food. She started following me. Eventually…"

He stopped, smiling slightly at the memories that flooded through his head. "...I suppose I started considering her my daughter, of a sort. But she still remembers those streets." Ozpin seemed solemn, almost like a tired old man instead of a dangerous Hunter, as he spoke. The only sign of his power lingered in the air around them. "She told me stories. Bigger people than her stealing her food. Fighting tooth and nail for everything she could get. The corpses, left to rot after being scavenged of valuables…" Ozpin shrugged, turning on his heels and moving back to his original seat.

He lowered himself heavily and settled back before continuing. "I don't know. Maybe she saw that you had lost your family. But she's decided to help you the best way she can... aside from training you, that is." Ozpin's eyes locked onto Neo and Jaune's eyes as the ever-present Aura deepened slightly more, reaching a fever pitch. Both Neo and Jaune instinctively clenched bedsheets between clammy fingers as they met his gaze, understanding the severity of his final threat. "But if you threaten her life again, I will end you. Personally."

"I do hope you know that if you lay so much as a finger on Neo, I will do whatever I need to in order to end you. I would remind who, between us, is the one to kill Cinder." Jaune growled angrily, grabbing Neo's right hand protectively and surprising the small woman after the display earlier," And failing to protect her, I would burn _everything _you hold dear. Beacon, Vale, everything, until my Aura was gone."

"I am quite sure you would try," Ozpin laughed dryly, attempting to ease the tension between the two with a half-smile. He knew the boy held power, even before he quite literally burned Cinder down to her namesake. That event had merely confirmed it in spades, and frankly terrified Ozpin as much as it did the Valean council. "I see that you and young Neo have made up. I'm…. Happy for you. You deserve some semblance of happiness in this world, if no one else. I would, however, advise that you not take too much time. You may not have much to waste. Don't repeat my mistakes in that department."

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked in confusion, brows knitting together in thought over what he meant. Ozpin merely turned, giving him a small smile and a nod before turning to the door once more and leaving. "That man is so weird."

Neo simply shrugged, noting absentmindedly that he was still holding her hand and considering, for a moment, pulling hers free. But the moment passed quickly and she instead leaned her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes to take a nap and let herself heal a bit more from the conflict earlier. She had a few ideas on what he could mean, and if Jaune would need to quit fighting….

**(JNPR and RWBY, Beacon Dormitory Common Areas)**

Pyrrha sighed tiredly, clicking the news off of the report regarding Jaune. He had been rather famous after inventing the latest and greatest war-machine Remnant had ever seen, as had Ruby and Weiss. Thankfully, the others had been protected by the fallout of Jaune's recently discovered atrocities. The Schnee Dust Company had excellent public relations, which made a good deal of sense for a company that size, and had assuaged the two of any guilt. Ruby had, after all, merely helped iron out the guns and Weiss had just helped get funding for it. They couldn't be blamed for what he did with it.

That didn't save the two teams, and everyone at Beacon in general, from being shocked by the news. Some were more angry and horrified than others, for varying reasons. Pyrrha, being his partner, couldn't help the guilt she felt at his actions, nor the anger they caused. "That bastard killed children…"

"I doubt he meant to do that." Ren argued as calmly as possible, gently rubbing Nora's sleeping head on his lap. Poor girl hadn't been able to comprehend what he'd done yet, much less recover from it," Shouldn't we at least wait to hear what he has to say?"

"We did that once before, Ren." Blake said lowly, glaring at the wall intensely. "How much else does he need to do before he stops having the benefit of the doubt? Why isn't wholesale slaughter enough?"

"Guys he's been through so much… We shouldn't just brush everything that's happened to him aside." Ruby defended, she needed to think that her friend wasn't some monster, and truly thought he hadn't meant what he did. "He lost his whole family, twice. Lost everything once. And then came back and started fighting all over again for our world."

"And then he killed a bunch of kids." Yang growled angrily, eyes flashing red at her sister for the briefest of moments," Think, Ruby, why haven't we heard from our friend for a few days? We both know the answer."

"...I know, but… I mean, what if he didn't mean it? He was angry, Yang. He was hurting, and then he took that weapon and went out for revenge." Ruby stared at her sister evenly, a spark of understanding lighting up her eyes," I don't recall anyone in this room even trying to stop him from going out there."

"That doesn't mate it our fault!" Weiss snapped defensively, bolting off of one of the three large couches the seven were sitting at, talking and thinking," We didn't know what he would do. We couldn't have known. It isn't fair to judge us for things we didn't know!"

"And yet you judge him without knowing whether he knew what he was doing. I can tell you, Ozpin was with him," Glynda said quietly, stepping into the room through the half-shut door," and he didn't know either. He didn't know until around the same time Jaune did, in fact."

"Miss Goodwitch? Why are you here?" Weiss asked in surprise, absentmindedly straightening her skirt and returning to her seat. Classes for the two teams had been cancelled for the day, due to recent events. The two teams were taking the time to discuss things.

"I was asked by the headmaster to check on you in his absence, and make certain you understood what happened was a mistake. Once mister Arc is already paying for dearly," she took a steadying breath before continuing, anticipating a good number of emotions to come from the girls soon enough," I was asked to tell you this before tomorrow, when it will become rather obvious. Jaune Arc is being disbarred from Hunter duties inside the Kingdom's walls as well as any and all conflicts with human or Faunus opponents. He is also being expelled from Beacon Academy, effective immediately, though he is being placed on a probationary status to let him fight Grimm. Lastly his ownership of the Knightmare Assault Frames has been… Revoked, and it is being remanded to Vale who will in turn no doubt sell the designs to Atlas, Vacuo and Mistral."

"What? That's ridiculous! My father will never allow this-"

"Any actions taken by anyone here to prevent this will result in his summary execution, miss Schnee." Glynda interrupted harshly, glaring at the pale girl as she stared in dumbfounded silence," The Council could have killed him outright. It is thanks to his connection to you, and thus your father, that he has been spared that fate. You and Miss Rose are expected tomorrow downtown to oversee and sign over both of your parts of the machine's design. Refusal will get you the license to it, but will also earn his execution."

"Who came up with such a distasteful deal?" Pyrrha demanded angrily. She may dislike Jaune, but this manner of underhandedness sat poorly with her. It was shameful.

"If you must know, Miss Nikos, it was a friend of mine, James, who came up with this compromise. I do find it a bit distasteful that he arranged to have Knightmares under his control, but he did save his life." She shrugged, turning to walk from the room once more," I cannot fault pragmatism."


	22. Damned to Repeat

**Twisted~ Heya guys! Winding this story down really quick, since only a few chapters existed in my head before its end any way. Taking Mika's absence as a sort of unfortunate opportunity to finish up a few of my older stories. So I'm going to finish Abyss now. And so everyone knows, YES. This is the original storyline, I'm not rushing, yadda yadda. I just sort of… Stopped working on it. Dunno why, really. I think Telepathy distracted me. **

**Anyways, I wanna wrap stuff up so I may focus on other ideas without old strings. So here's the two-or-three chapter ending to Peering into the Dark Abyss, my weird, odd, strange amalgamation of Code Geass, RWBY and Naruto that feels ever-so-slightly more real with episodes nine and ten of the show's third season existing. The ending three chapters will come after this very short set-up chapter. **

**(Jaune Arc, Beacon Academy Auditorium, Three Weeks Later)**

The following weeks had been hard, Jaune being rushed to forced meetings, press conferences and more every single day. He woke up, and then he and Neo set about their daily publicity assignments until that night, when they were exhausted and worn down enough to merely fall asleep. Luna did her utmost to help, helping him organize things and more until she was swamped herself with a million tasks and the intention was made clear.

Jaune would _not_ be allowed to find a way to weasel his way out of this situation, and he knew that that was what was intended. But he could do nothing but bide his time, hoping for a solution even until this very moment.

Jaune frowned, turning to look at the Atlesian General James Ironwood, standing next to him with a rather pleased smile. Neo, sitting in the front row, caught his eye, signing quickly," Just relax, after this they said they'd leave you alone."

He grimaced, signing back as discreetly as possible standing on the stage," I know, I just have a very bad feeling about this. That's all."

She started signing again, something along the lines of telling him to relax, but Ozpin cut her off entirely by walking in front of him, starting the farce of a 'ceremony' to mark Jaune's handing off of his designs to Atlas and Vale and subsequent retirement," Ladies and gentleman, we are here to mark a momentous occasion. Today, Vale and Atlas take a step towards a permanent state of peace, by doing something unheard of in our history."

Ironwood took that moment to step forward, taking the cue from Ozpin for their rehearsed speech," In today's world, we face a great, great many threats both from within and without. We in Atlas, and the Council of Vale, both agree that we cannot be one of those threats to each other. So Vale's military is, officially, being folded into Atlas' own. Starting with the newest advancements on both sides. Atlas' newest variants of airships, handheld assault weapons and our infantry support droids will be mass-produced and sent into Vale immediately."

"And our newest advances in Dust metallurgy and mechanized infantry support vehicles, particularly our Knightmares designed by Mr. Arc here, will also be produced and fielded by Atlas' forces. It is our hope that this coalition will foster new relations between our two great kingdoms." Jaune grimaced, he could tell Ozpin hated this. Hated simply giving away their rights to their own defenses to Atlas like this, but Jaune knew that there'd never been a coalition like this in his time, which had to be a step in the right direction.

Jaune tried not to openly glare at the general when he offered his hand to shake, smiling as diplomatically as he could and nodding to the man who simply smiled in return," The more things change…" Jaune blinked, smile evaporating almost instantly, and looked at the man as he walked away and off the stage to meet his 'fans'.

"The hell…." He ignored it, for the moment, turning around with a flick of his coat - a signal to Neo to follow him - and walking out the back of the stage. The girl was, as always, quick to react when he grew serious enough to begin using their preset signals and plans like this.

"What happened?" She signed quickly, walking quickly beside him towards the back door to the assembly hall, hoping to avoid anyone overly curious by seeming to slip off with the young woman that had rumors about them flying in most every circle.

"I have a bad feeling about-" He rounded a corner, almost bowling over a very distraught looking Ruby, who flinched at their closeness and stepped away, glaring. "Ruby? It's… Good to see you, really, but I have to-"

She shouldered past him harshly, and he and Neo both were left wondering what had upset her so much, Neo signing an expletive at her back," The hell was her issue?"

"I have no idea, Neo, but I seem to have missed a good number of things." He turned back toward the exit, the girl following him out quickly," Something is going on with this arrangement, Neo. I don't like it."

And then they both heard the sound of several guns locking into place against metal shoulders. Jaune spinning, Sharingan flaring angrily, and Neo grabbing at her slim sword, ready to defend Jaune. Both were stunned to see the young ginger girl, and her half-dozen Atlesian knights.


	23. Finality

**Twisted~ And now, the finale! The last, great vengeance Jaune has the need to wreak upon the last of his enemies. Let's watch, yes? Also, note that everything in this series, fic, whatever was canon up until the start of Volume 3. Everything detailed in 3 will not be here, sadly. **

**And I am planning a… I don't know, redo I guess? Of the story. But it won't be like this one. Someone gave me another idea. So I am planning a new story, Jaune the Mechanist. **

**Also, check out Solar Jarl the Cannon King. Did a lot on here. **

**(Jaune Arc, Beacon Academy Back Hallways, Third Person)**

Jaune glared, eyes roving both the girl and the robots in front of him suspiciously for nearly a minute before he finally spoke, making sure she saw him rest his hand on his large, shiny revolver, and making sure to place himself between Neo and the bulk of the droids," What are you doing, Penny?"

"I am following my orders, Jaune Arc, and detaining you until my father arrives to speak with you himself." The girl smiled in her naivete and Jaune groaned, the innocence of the look and the girl's actions belying what he knew was a potent fighter. The facade was… useful in that way, everyone would discount her right off the bat," And how do you know my name?"

'None of your damn business, ginger snap.' Neo signed off to the side, the girl blinking in surprise at the aggression.

"I am sorry, ma'am, have I done something to upset you? If I have, I am sorry. I did not mean to. I am… not good with people, I often misunderstand things and mess up." Penny frowned, eyes lowering sadly, and Jaune sighed tiredly, giving her a light glare.

"I know some people who know you, that's all. Depending on why your father decided to send you, and a not-inconsequential amount of heavily armed droids, I'd enjoy hanging out with you and Ruby." Jaune smiled, watching the girl's innocent eyes light up at the mention of the girl, signaling Neo to calm down a tick so he could try and play an angle with a tilt of his head and roll of his off hand's wrist. "She just walked through here, may have spotted her if you know her."

"Yes, I did! I must say though, she looked quite upset. Perhaps because her friend died in the attack against the White Fang…" Jaune opened his mouth, to question what she meant though he felt he already knew exactly what she meant by it, when the door behind her opened to reveal Ironwood with another squad of his robots in tow and she smiled, turning happily to him," Father!"

He smiled at her before turning a glare on Jaune, the mechs behind him fanning out to fill in ranks with their brothers surrounding him and raising the count to three dozen, all armed and armored to the teeth," Jaune Arc. Glad we…" He smiled, raising his left eyebrow ever-so-slightly," Caught up with you, I guess you could say."

"Yes, because I was definitely running," Jaune said sarcastically, hand perpetually resting on his large gun comfortably," What do you _want_, General? You already took my machines, I haven't got anything left for you to rob me of."

"Jaune, you and I are… Well, we're connected in a variety of ways. the same ways which led you to kill the others you were connected to," Jaune blinked, mouth gaping slightly as a million-and-one thoughts flew through his mind," You see, the three of us are all dangerous to the stability of the future, something we all three know far more… intimately than anyone else alive. As such, I seek to help control the stability of the world as it moves forward."

"If you wanted to work together, why didn't you contact me?" Jaune shook his head, relaxing slightly at the new information and smiling slightly," We could have just worked together, gotten a lot more done with much less effort and blood."

Neo snapped her fingers, Jaune turning his head slightly to look at her so she could sign,' I have a very, very bad feeling about him, Jaune. This doesn't sit right with me at all. Why would he need his mechs here now if he was friendly?'

"Unfortunately, your…. friend, I suppose, is a functioning term for her, is right. I am not friendly, not to you at least, by any stretch of the imagination. You bring… instability, danger and risk to this entire world, and that is something I mustn't allow. Something I _cannot _allow." Jaune's glare could have melted stone itself, and James took note of how he stepped further in front of the smaller woman protectively," Unfortunately for you, this means I can't allow you to continue living. You were… useful for a time, I admit. So thank you."

"Neo, as soon as you see an opening, you run." Jaune ordered coldly, to which James simply sighed and turned around, moving towards the door," And where are _you _going, you bastard?"

The Atlesian general seemed to pause, regarding the boy calmly with an almost sad expression on his face," I have to be elsewhere when my Knights kill you,so I may say that they were compromised through a fault in their security protocols. Something we both know about, I would wager." He seemed to think for several long seconds, sighing lightly," Jaune, you have to die here. That much is fact, but… You are the only one who absolutely cannot live."

'The hell are you talking about?' Neo signed, stepping around Jaune and glaring at the general hotly. 'The only one dying today is you and your pansy ass robots.'

"What I mean is that you, Neopolitan, are not important. Not enough to warrant any changes should you live, and so you can leave. If, of course, Jaune surrenders to me." James said quietly, looking at Jaune levelly from over his shoulder," If you attack me, Penny and I will defeat you, and you will be executed for treason. But I will not send anyone at all after Neopolitan, ever. She will be safe."

'Not a chance, you son of a bitch.' Neo signed, starting a second sentence when Jaune grabbed her hands, shaking his head sadly. The small assassin gave him a confused look, eyes blinking between brown and pink in confusion.

"We already accomplished our goals, Neo. Cinder is dead, the White Fang are crumbling, Beacon is standing, and everyone that matters is alive. Go, take care of them for me." Jaune ignored her reaction, drawing his sword and sidearm," I have work to do."

"Penny," Ironwood suddenly came close to the android and placed his hand on her head, as if giving a friendly ruffle. The Android brightened her smile at the contact. "Override Code: 9034 through 10093, kIll Jaune Arc, then You may see your other friends."

For a moment, Jaune's world froze, he saw the confusion twisting Penny's once naive smile. Then her features distorted into horrid understanding, before shooting a pleading look at him. Whatever she had wanted to say, however, he never heard over the sound of a blade breaking the sound barrier towards him.

Jaune felt a coldness grip his chest, he looked down and saw a olive colored blade jammed through his ribs. He couldn't breathe, it was so tight. "I'm sorry Mr. Arc, I truly am. Fire" The last sounds Jaune heard before complete oblivion was the sound of rifles cocked in his direction.

**(Epilogue, Neo Politan, Junior's Bar in Downtown Vale, Third Person, One Month Later)**

Neo sighed tiredly, watching the gyrating bodies for anyone she'd need to drag out in a minute for causing problems. Just like he'd promised, the general had let her leave unharmed, and accused Jaune of attacking him post-mortem, further dragging him through the mud. She herself had gone to his 'friends', tried to explain everything.

She and the four who actually listened to her - Weiss, Pyrrha, Blake and Ren - had held their own, quiet ceremony after he'd been cremated, as traitors didn't get funerals or ceremonies.

And then she'd left, though she'd occasionally see an Atlas - or, rather, 'Coalition' - soldier giving her a look, and regardless of where she moved there were always extra patrols for some reason. Still, she'd been left well enough alone, and even got some recommendations for work from James himself.

"Politan!" She turned to give Junior, the club's owner, a look and he gestured at the door," Blonde bitch is back, keep an eye on her for me." She followed her boss's finger, and sighed in exasperation when she saw Yang walking in with her black-haired friend in tow.

Nodding, she jogged over to the girl and said her usual hello, to which the friendly blonde smiled. She came here on a rather frequent schedule, and the two had become somewhat good friends as a result. The two talked for the briefest moment before heading to the bar to get drinks and continue talking, Neo only getting some juice.

Drinking while pregnant was a problem, after all.


End file.
